The BFI Future Film Festival Awards 2025, supported by Netflix, took place this evening with the winners announced online and in person at BFI Southbank.
The talented young filmmakers aged 16-25 that took home prizes included Eve Grant (Best New Talent and Best Writer for HEAVY), Andrea Adame and Paula Trejo Espado (Best Film and Best International Film for RED LACE), and Shane Chung (Best Director and International Special Mention for CHECK PLEASE). Three of these awards were judged by the BFI’s esteemed Festival Jury, who announced their choices at tonight’s ceremony, comprised of filmmakers Baff Akoto (producer of QUEEN OF GLORY), Daisy-May Hudson (director of HOLLOWAY), Eloïse King (director of THE SHADOW SCHOLARS) and Pinny Grylls (director of GRAND THEFT HAMLET). Further awards presented during the ceremony, all judged by industry experts, included the winners Song Ye (Best Animation for UNRECOGNIZED CHARACTER DETECTED), Rana Wael Matar (Best Documentary for YOUR VOICE ONLY), Joel Claudio (Best Experimental Film for REBIRTH) and Shuqi Li (Best Micro Short for OVER THERE). The winners were awarded prizes worth more than £15,000, BFI Player subscriptions and mentorships from industry leaders. The Awards were hosted by Elle Osili-Wood.
This year’s BFI Future Film Festival continues with UK-wide and online events taking place until 6 March. The programme at BFI IMAX and BFI Southbank, kindly supported by Main Sponsors Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery’s CrewHQ, took place from 20 – 23 February when young filmmakers heard from some of the best in the business, including Hot Spot sessions with actor and filmmaker Alice Lowe (PREVENGE, TIMESTALKER), theatre and film director Nadia Latif (THE MAN IN MY BASEMENT), and playwright and screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz (SHE SAID). Other speakers throughout the event have included filmmakers Leon Oldstrong (THE LIES OF OUR CONFINES), Alice Russell (IF THE STREETS WERE ON FIRE) and Dan Thorburn (SALT WALTER TOWN), writers Ava Wong Davies (INDUSTRY), Celia Morgan (EASTENDERS), Verona Rose (TOP BOY), Thara Popoola (SEX EDUCATION), Mick Ford (AFTER THE FLOOD), editors Carly Brown (DOCTOR WHO), Rachel Durance (HOARD), Catarina Oliveira (BLUE PLANET II) and Xanna Ward Dixon (IF THE STREETS WERE ON FIRE), animators Adeene Grubb, Hamish Steele and Alice Bloomfield, showrunner’s assistant Lucy Shalders (THE SPOT), writer and journalist Danny Leigh, BlinkInk executive producer Josef Byrne, producer Alex Handschuh and office manager Will Gray, Coal Supper founders James Carbutt and Will Todd, Triple Exposure founder Gareth Graham, freelance producer Sarah Mavity, colour grader Jo Barker, wildlife filmmaker Libby Penman, Black Pear consulting director and executive coach Sarah Wright, director and choreographer Holly Blakey, movement director Yahamoto, NOWNESS commissioning director Katie Metcalfe, plus trainees and crew from CrewHQ, Warner Bros Studio Leavesden’s Skills and Training Centre.
The online programme, which included sessions featuring writer director Aislinn Clarke (FRÉWAKA), INDUSTRY co-creator Mickey Down, writer, performer and filmmaker Amrou Al-Kadhi (LAYLA), writer director Abel Rubenstein (LIFE IN LOVE) and filmmaker Libby Burke Wilde (EARLY TWENTIES), is available to watch now on the BFI YouTube Channel.
