Film talent in the spotlight

Creative England unveils its first talent development brochure today, promoting the films and filmmakers that it is currently supporting with development funding.

The brochure, which can be viewed here via Drop Box, showcases 36 feature film projects from an exciting array of first and second-time filmmakers as well as from more established talents such as Terence Davies.

Creative England’s Head of Talent, Chris Moll, said:

“At Creative England we’re very focused on maximising the exposure for the talent that we support with development funding. We do this by making sure they have access to the very best industry contacts and markets that we can provide. Our talent development brochure is part of this wider ‘money plus’ strategy and we hope it will add to the buzz already building around many of these projects.”

Some of the brightest regionally-based directing talent appear including Andrew Haigh (Weekend), Nick Whitfield (Skeletons), Mohamed Al-Daradji (Son Of Babylon), David Whitney (Kandahar Pass) and Shona Auerbach (Dear Frankie), as do award-winning shorts directors Esther May Campbell and Deborah Hayward, cross-over artist Joe Magee and musician/filmmaker Cosmo Jarvis.

As well as original screenplays, supported projects include adaptations of Girl Missing from the teen novel by Sophie Mackenzie and Boxy An Star from the cult novel by Daren King, and documentaries such as the North Korean-set The Lovers and The Despot from director Robert Cannan (Three Miles North of Molkom), Paa Joe: Dead, not Buried from rising star Benjamin Wigley and Camera Wallah, the biggest no-budget Lollywood epic ever to grace the streets of Nottingham.

The publication of the bi-annual brochure comes as Creative England prepares to take on an enhanced talent development and business growth role from April 2013 under the BFI’s Film Forever plan.

In addition to its Development Fund, the organisation currently manages the iFeatures2 low-budget feature initiative, and the Advantage Media Production Fund (AMPF), which recently invested in Debbie Isitt’s Nativity 2 and Penny Woolcock’s feature documentary, One Mile Away, winner of the Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature at this year’s Edinburgh Film Festival. It also partners on a variety of talent development and training programmes through its Film Networks Fund.