Film London Shortlists Projects For Latest Round Of Microwave

Film London has shortlisted 12 projects for the latest round of Microwave, its training-through-production scheme for London filmmakers.

Film London Microwave invests in the capital's brightest emerging talent. Supported by the BFI and BBC Films, the commissioned films will be awarded £100,000 of the total production budget of £150,000. Shortlisted filmmakers will also receive up to £10,000 development funding for the first time.

Microwave provides each shortlisted filmmaking team with bespoke mentoring from experienced industry directors, writers and producers. The 12 teams will undertake an intensive five-day training ‘bootcamp’, Microschool. Funded by Creative Skillset, Microschool will enable teams to hone their scripts and develop their filmmaking skills. The Microwave panel will then choose six projects to take forward for a further six weeks of development, after which two projects will be commissioned.

Microwave has now appointed media and entertainment law specialists Harbottle & Lewis as business and legal consultants for the project. Tom Grievson and Alex Stolz.
International, Netflix, Entertainment One and BFI between them – will also join the scheme as expert marketing and distribution consultants. They will work alongside the Film London team which includes Senior Microwave Executive and BAFTA-nominee Olivier Kaempfer, who produced previous Microwave title Borrowed Time and Executive Produced Sundance 2014 hit Appropriate Behavior.

Since the scheme was launched in May, Film London undertook a significant outreach programme engaging with almost 400 aspiring filmmakers, producers and screenwriters during all-day masterclasses and a series of roadshows. In keeping with Film London’s aims to ensure the city’s diverse population is reflected through its production funds, both behind and in front of the camera, applications exceeded the target of ensuring 50% of the teams applying had a writer, director or producer from a black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) background. Of the 160 teams applying, 27 were interviewed with the 12 strongest now being taken forward to Microschool.

Microwave is Film London's £1.2m training-through-production fund which invests in London’s brightest emerging talent and is set to produce six new features over three years. As well as support from script to screen, greenlit projects will receive £100,000, and have to raise the additional £50,000 themselves. Completed Microwave films will also have access to an additional £25,000 of ring-fenced funding to assist with distribution.

Microwave is being backed by the BFI, BBC Films and Creative Skillset through the Film Skills Fund.

The shortlisted projects and teams are:

• The Blue House, Patrick Dickinson (writer and director), Sophie Venner (producer)
• Butterfly Kisses, Greer Ellison (writer), Rafal Kapelinski (director), Merlin Merton and David Braithwaite (producers)
• Daphne's Inferno, Nico Mensinga (writer) Peter Mackie Burns (director) Valentina Brazzini and Tristan Goligher (producers)
• Engaged, James Condon (writer) Adam Randall (director) Bennet McGhee and Matt Wilkinson (producers)
• Kill Her Witch, Faye Gilbert (writer and director), Yaw Basoah (producer)
• The New Thirty, Wendy Okoi-Obuli (writer), Remi Vaughan-Richards (director), Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo (producer)
• Night Dances, Johnny Kenton (writer and director), Jo Allan (producer)
• The Opposite of Everything, Ruth Pickett (writer), Nour Wazzi ( director), Stephen Smith (producer)
• Punch, Ruth Ivo (writer and director), Rachel Wardlow (producer)
• Unsung, Ayndrilla Singharay (writer), Liam Creighton (director) Fiona Black (producer)
• The Visitor, Sebastian Godwin (writer and director), Hugo Godwin (producer)
• Worm, Keir Burrows (writer and director), Dieudonnée Burrows (producer)