The British Film Commission at Festival de Cannes 2024
The 77th edition of Festival the Cannes has drawn to a close and the British Film Commission team were delighted to once again connect with our European and international partners. We had the pleasure of representing the UK’s screen industries at the UK Pavilion, along with national and regional Screen UK partners – the British Film Institute, Creative Wales, Filming in England, Film London, Northern Ireland Screen and Screen Scotland.
The Festival de Cannes is a key moment in the British Film Commission’s annual festivals and markets calendar, providing opportunities to meet, establish and reinforce important relationships with European screen industry colleagues, at the same time highlighting the UK offer internationally. We were particularly pleased to discuss the UK’s new 40% Independent Film Tax Credit for projects up to £15m, further incentivising international and European productions to bring their projects to the UK.
This year, we hosted a round table discussion on Europe’s combined creative power as an international production hub, in partnership with Screen International. The round table, moderated by Samantha Perahia MBE (Head of Production UK, British Film Commission) brought together representatives from several European film commissions, including Ireland, France, Hungary, Germany, Norway and Spain, for an engaging and in-depth discussion on the importance and benefits of European collaboration.
Image: Christiane Krone-Raab (Berlin Brandenburg Film Commission), Samantha Perahia MBE (British Film Commission), Tim Dams (Screen International), Meghan Beaton (Norwegian Film Commission), Daphné Lora (Film France – CNC), Ildiko Kemeny (Hungary’s Pioneer Stillking), Adrian Wootton OBE (British Film Commission), Juan Manuel Guimerans Rubio (Spain Film Commission).
Another highlight was our Marché de Cannes panel, ‘Lifting the Veil on Cross-Border Collaborations: a UK and France Locations Masterclass’, which we co-hosted with our colleagues at Film France – CNC. Expertly moderated by Production Guild of Great Britain Chief Executive Lyndsay Duthie, the event saw BFC Chief Executive Adrian Wootton OBE, Daphne Lora (Head of Film France & Games France), and The Veil producers Adrian Kelly and Xavier Roy explore the cross-border collaboration on production for the upcoming FX thriller series The Veil. The panel was an excellent opportunity to promote the value of our individual film commissions and our respective countries’ below-the-line talent, and the importance of working together to create world-class productions.
Image: Adrian Wootton OBE (British Film Commission), Lyndsay Duthie (Production Guild of Great Britain)Daphne Lora (Film France – CNC), Xavier Roy (producer), Adrian Kelly (producer).
The British Film Commission was also proud to be a Gold Sponsor of the 2024 Global Production Awards, presented by Screen International. It was wonderful to attend the buzzing awards ceremony, alongside many international colleagues and partners, to celebrate the outstanding achievements of those working behind the scenes of our world-class production sets, locations and studios. Congratulations to all winners and shortlisted projects, including the city of Bristol as City of Film 2024!
Image: Global Production Awards Ceremony
We look forward to building on the meetings and connections made at this year’s Festival de Cannes, and to continuing our creative collaboration and exchange with European colleagues.