BFI Filmmaking Fund team talk Cannes success, AI and investment strategy | Features
This Cannes is a special one for BFI Filmmaking Fund director Mia Bays, as she is now over two-thirds through her five-year tenure, and the results from the sweeping changes she has put in place at the fund are coming to fruition. Three of the first films to be backed by the Discovery Fund — a production fund tailored towards supporting directorial debuts budgeted below £3.5m ($4.6m) that was introduced in April 2023 — are playing in Un Certain Regard at Cannes: Akinola Davies Jr’s My Father’s Shadow, Harris Dickinson’s Urchin and Harry Lighton’s Pillion.
“We’re proud of the role we play in launching careers and sustaining careers,” says Bays. “Seeing Molly Manning Walker [director of BFI-backed debut How To…
