Netflix announces latest filmmaking talent for the third iteration of the Documentary Talent Fund

Netflix announces six filmmakers who will receive funding and professional support to make a short documentary as part of the third year of the Netflix Documentary Talent Fund. Following a rigorous application process and thousands of applications, a shortlist of 12 filmmaking teams from across the UK and Ireland were invited to Netflix’s UK HQ to pitch in front of a panel of industry experts this month. They were asked to pitch one idea each inspired by the prompt, “you’re never gonna believe this…”

The successful recipients and their projects are:

• David Chabeaux & Owen Tooth – ‘BAND’ – a Middle-England factory worker leads a bizarre Marching Band cult down a hilariously dark spiral of obsession

• Lisa Smith & Jack Lilleywhite – ‘ANGRY BIRD’ – After a life changing crash Romani  racer Georgie, aka ‘Angry Bird,’ is stripped of the space that once empowered her. Determined to become champion, she is forced to confront her ethnic identity as the only woman on the track

• Eilidh Munro & Isabella Bassett – ‘THE HERRING QUEEN’ – A teenage girl is crowned The Herring Queen in a tiny Scottish fishing village’s beauty pageant as a community holds onto the past and the world faces a sea change

• Imoje Aikhoje – ‘DIVIDED WE STAND’ – explores the UK’s rise in far right extremism through a dialogue between a black activist and former Neo Nazi

• Ailill Martin & Peter Kilmartin – ‘THE GOOD FARMER AND THE FAILED SON’ – A drag queen prepares to inherit the family farm

• Maya Avidov & Savannah James-Bayly – ‘CRIMES OF COLLAGE’ is the story of a bold artistic prank that transformed stolen library books into provocative collages, led to a six-month prison sentence for theft and vandalism, and continues to leave an artistic legacy over 60 years later

Each team will now be supported by Netflix to produce a short documentary between 8-12 minutes long with a budget of £30,000 each. The films will be released on Netflix’s YouTube channel in the Summer. As part of the process they will now undergo bootcamp training from experts at Netflix who will coach and host workshops covering Creative, HR and Production. The initiative will provide filmmakers with a personalised experience to best suit their levels of expertise and help them further their careers.

This year, Netflix’s Kate Townsend led a team of industry professionals to form the judging panel to select the final teams. These included –  Aloke Devichand (Head of Documentaries, Mindhouse); Andy Mundy Castle (Director, White Nanny Black Child, Founder DocHearts); Anna Higgs (Chair, BAFTA Film Committee); Danny Moltrasi (Senior Shorts Programmer at Raindance); Bao Nguyen (Director, The Greatest Night In Pop); Felicity Morris (Director, Tinder Swindler and American Nightmare), Lyttanya Shannon (Director, Sweet Bobby); Nicky Varley (Head of Production, Curious Film) and Zainab Ali Khan (Original Documentaries, Netflix).

Townsend said, “The competition was fiercer than ever this year and we were so inspired by the filmmakers we met on pitch day – so much so that we have decided to fund six films this year, rather than five. Ideas flooded in from all over the UK and Ireland and we’ve loved hearing all of these remarkable and entertaining stories. We’re confident that we’ve found some of the most exciting and talented upcoming filmmakers in the industry and we’re looking forward now to collaborating on their productions and releasing their finished films next Summer.”

In the first two years of the fund 15 short films have been produced with over 60 festival screenings. Last year, Iranian Yellow Pages, made by Anna Snowball & Abolfazl Talooni, was nominated for the Best Documentary Short at this year’s Grierson Awards and was screened at festivals including BFI London Film Festival and AFI Fest.

Black Stroke, a film by Olivia Smart was also shortlisted for Best Documentary Short at this year’s Grierson Awards as well as being nominated for the Broadcast Digital Award for Best Short Form Documentary 2024. It won Best Documentary at the Wimbledon International short film festival.

Two Mothers, a film by Anna Rogers and Zlata Filipovic, won Best Documentary at FastNet film festival as well as the Radharc award for Best streaming documentary. It received an honourable mention at the Boyne Valley Film Festival and Roscommon Film Festival and had its international premiere at Newport Beach International Film festival.

Turn Up The Bass, directed by Ted Evans and executive produced by Caroline Williamson, has been screened at festivals all over the world, including Aesthetica, Bolton Film Festival, Discover Film Festival London and Festival Clin d’Oeil in Paris. It was also shown at the Dis/ability Film Festival at Berkeley University in California and Seize the Film in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Montenegro. It was the winner in the 2024 Cinema Touching Disability short film competition.

Love Languages, directed by Jason Osbourne during the first year of the fund, made last year’s BAFTA Longlist for British Short Film. Other filmmakers who have been supported by the fund have gone on to make their first features, been nominated for numerous other awards and become BAFTA Connect members: Year 1 recipient Tobi Kyeremateng, who made her directorial debut with her film ÓWÀMBÈ, went on to win the 2023 BAFTA TV Award for Short Form Programme for her next project How To Be A Person. Fellow fund alumni Beya Kabelu and Shiva Raichandani were also nominated in the same category, for their follow up work.