BFI Future Film Festival


The BFI Future Film Festival is a film festival which aims "to help young people break into the screen industries", organised by the British Film Institute. Founded in 2008, it takes place over four days in February each year, and focuses equally on fiction, animation and documentary, as well as TV and video games.
The festival provides young people with masterclasses, workshops and film screenings from emerging filmmakers, at BFI Southbank in London. Since 2020, the festival has simultaneously run online events, aimed at young people across the UK. Since 2024, the festival expanded to also have events and screenings in venues UK wide.
Before the second year of the festival, the BBC's Creative Director, Alan Yentob, said: "It's going to give young people a fantastic opportunity to get involved in something creative and possibly life-changing. Who knows, we may even be able to spot a couple of BAFTA winners of the future." The Guardian noted that the "festival is aimed at nurturing young film-makers, and there's plenty for them to be inspired by". 2017 and 2020 award winner Charlotte Regan has subsequently been nominated by BAFTA and won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at Sundance Film Festival for her debut feature, Scrapper.
WWW bfi.org.uk/education-rese...

Notable speakers

Awards

17th Future Film Festival
  • Best Film - The Third Ear
  • Best Director - All Up There
  • Best New Talent - Stir
  • Best Animation - Bird Drone
  • Best International Film - Dreams of Home
  • International Special Mention - Rock Springs
  • Best Writer - Are You Okay?
  • Best Experimental Film - Lucidity
  • Best Documentary - Guardians
  • Best Micro Short - 36,000 Words for Love
16th Future Film Festival
  • Best Film - Underbelly
  • Best Director - Drop Out
  • Best New Talent - Underbelly
  • Best Animation - Interdimensional Pizza Pushers
  • Best International Film - Busan, 1999
  • International Special Mention - Being Human
  • Best Writer - Busan, 1999
  • Best Experimental Film - CANNED
  • Best Documentary - Pacing the Pool
  • Best Micro Short - Safe
15th Future Film Festival
  • Best Film - The Gospel According to Gail
  • Best Director - Heart Failure
  • Best New Talent - Exhale
  • Best Animation - Divination Dave
  • Best International Film - Mirrored Family
  • International Special Mention - This Time With Feeling
  • Best Writer - You Look Fine
  • Best Experimental Film - Blackmael
  • Best Documentary - Homebound
  • Best Micro Short - Stolen.
14th Future Film Festival
  • Best Film - Loco
  • Best Director - Instructions to Let Go
  • Best New Talent - Music for the End of the World
  • Best Animation - The Quiet
  • Best International Film - The Quiet
  • International Special Mention - Damn Hobo!
  • Best Writer - The Massive Fucking Bender
  • Best Experimental Film - Dudu
  • Best Documentary - Life is a Highway
  • Best Micro Short - Breath
13th Future Film Festival
  • Best International Short - CANCEL
  • Best International Short: Special Mention - One Frame Raid Per Siren
  • Best New Talent: Animation - Simona Mehandzhieva
  • Best New Talent: Documentary - Tracey Lopes & Alicia Quayson
  • Best Non-Narrative Film - In Passing
  • Best Writer - Ben Hector
  • Best Director - Charlotte Regan
  • Best 16–18 Short Film - Home on the Road
  • Best 19–25 Short Film - All the King's Men
  • Future Film Lab Award - Virginia
12th Future Film Festival
  • Best International Short - Departures by Nicolas Morganti Patrignani
  • Best International New Talent - Dulce Hogar
  • New Talent Awards - The Grey Area, Agya, John Ogunmuyiwa, Dorothy Allen-Pickard
  • Black Dog Production Award for Best Non-Narrative Film - As Is by Alice Bloomfield
  • Best 16-18 UK Short Film - The Milk Bottle by Saul Lotzof
  • Best 19-25 UK Short Film - Henceforth by Charlene Jones
  • Future Film Lab Award - Alex Deitsch
11th Future Film Festival
  • Best Experimental Short Award — Dead. Tissue. Love
  • Hiive Audience Award — False Men
  • BFI Patron’s New Talent Awards - Amygdala, Beneath the Surface, V, The Fence
  • International New Talent Award - The Voyager
  • The Best International Short Award — Local Monuments
  • Best 16-18 UK Short — Father | Daughter
  • Best 19-25 UK Short — Calling Home
  • Future Film Lab Award sponsored by Lacie — The Fence
10th Future Film Festival
  • Best Experimental Short - One Diving, One Falling by Harry Cauty
  • New Talent Awards - Emma Changes the Lock by Julia Hart, Addy by Matty Crawford, Run by Thea Gajic
  • Best International Short - Miriam by Sarah Lederman
  • Best 16-18 UK Short Film - Lux by Issy Snailham
  • Best 19-25 UK Short Film - Fish Story by Charlie Lyne
  • Future Film Lab Award - Standby by Charlotte Regan and Jack Hannon
  • Hiive Audience Award - Venus by Fay Carr-Wilson
9th Future Film Festival
  • Best Experimental Short - Power to the Mini Beasts by Ella Bee Glendining and Florence Watson
  • Best Micro Short - Stalkers by Fred Tilby-Jones
  • Best International Short - Horseface by Marc Martínez Jordán
  • Best 16-18 UK Short Film - You Know That Feeling by Emily Llewllyn
  • Best 19-25 UK Short Film - Isabella by Duncan Cowles, Ross Hogg
  • Best Writer – I'm Good With Plants by Thomas Harnett Omeara
  • Best Producer – Slow Down by Megan K. Fox
  • Best Director – She Would Move the Tree Rather More to the Middle by Anna Maguire