Sarah Gavron will help celebrate the next generation of auteurs. A press release announced that the “Suffragette” helmer has been named Jury Chair of the BFI Future Film Festival, a UK industry festival for filmmakers aged 16-25. Other jurors include “Black Mirror” co-creator and producer Annabel Jones and the head of BFI Network, Jess Loveland. The jury will select the Best Short Film in two age groups – 16-18 and 19-25 – who will each receive £1,000 (approximately $1,300 USD) as well as awarding the Future Film Lab Award, which offers the recipient a year of dedicated industry mentoring and £5,000 (approximately $6,500 USD) to develop their next project.
“I am thrilled to chair the Jury for this year’s BFI Future Film Festival Awards, and look forward to discovering new and exciting work by talented young filmmakers from around the globe,” said Gavron. “The Awards offer those who are at the beginning of their creative journey a unique opportunity to develop their raw talent and passion, not only with the help of prize money and new camera kit, but also through a year of expert mentorship and technical support from the BFI and wider industry partners. I’m looking forward to the challenge of selecting the Award winners from a shortlist of incredible talent, and can’t wait to see what the future holds for all the young filmmakers who attend the BFI Future Film Festival, a vital Festival in the UK film industry calendar.”
Winners will be announced at a ceremony on February 20.
Slated to take place at BFI Southbank from 20-23 February 2020, the fest’s other competition categories include Best New Talent: Animation, Best New Talent: Documentary, Best Non-Narrative Film, Best Writer, Best Director, Best International Short, and International New Talent, all of which will be judged by BFI and industry experts.
“All the nominated films will screen during the course of the Festival; the 50 shortlisted films have been shortlisted by the Festival programming team from more than 1,900 submissions from around the world,” the press release details.
Other programming at the fest includes a keynote talk from “Little Joe” writer-director Jessica Hausner.
Gavron’s latest film, “Rocks,” made its world premiere at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and went on to screen at San Sebastián Film Festival, London Film Festival, and AFI Fest, among other festivals. The East London-set drama tells the story of a neglected Nigerian British girl and her younger brother. The film opens in the UK April 24. No word on a U.S. release yet. Gavron’s other credits include 2007 feature “Brick Lane” and an episode of “Transparent.”
