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Naomie Ackie, Andrea Riseborough Projects Among Works in Progress Sidebar at London Film Fest

Naman Ramachandran
·2-min read

The BFI London Film Festival has added a new, annual works-in-progress showcase as part of its industry program, and has invited seven projects to participate, including two featuring “Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker” and “The End of the F***ing World” actor Naomie Ackie and “ZeroZeroZero” actor Andrea Riseborough.

The showcase features works made for cinema, television and immersive platforms by U.K. emerging talent and will be presented to an invited audience of international buyers and festival programmers.

The projects include psychological thriller “Here Before” by Stacey Gregg (“Little Birds”), produced by Sophie Vickers (“Surge”) and Julia Godzinskaya (“The Other Lamb”), starring Riseborough, Martin McCann (“Wildfire”) and Jonjo O’Neill (“Pennyworth”); and heist film “The Score,” directed by Malachi Smyth (“Nocturne”), produced by Matthew James Wilkinson (“Yesterday”), Ben Pullen (“Light of the World), alongside co-producer Isabelle Georgeaux (“Calibre”), starring Johnny Flynn (“Stardust”), Ackie and Will Poulter (“Midsommar”).

Experimental filmmaker Baff Akoto, whose “Leave The Edges,” the first part of a Black Lives Matter informed trilogy is showing at the festival’s ‘Experimenta’ strand, will showcase the second, as-yet-untitled part, alongside producer Lidz-Ama Appiah (“The Screening Room”). It features Lazara Rosell Albear, Odilon Ngonda and Suhyene Idrissu.

Grime music documentary “8 Bar” by Ewen Soencer (“Street Sound and Style”) is produced by Aleksandra Bilic (“Sounds of Tehran”), Jamie Clark and David Upshal (“Aretha Franklin: Respect”), while inner-city biking documentary “If The Streets Were On Fire,” by Alice Russell (“Men Buy Sex”) is produced by Gannesh Rajah (“The Only Thing That Exists is the Dot”).

“The Feast,” that chronicles the unraveling of a wealthy family in the Welsh mountains, is directed by Lee-Haven Jones (“Doctor Who”), written and produced by Roger Williams (“Bang”), and stars Annes Elwy (“Hidden”), Nia Roberts (“Washington”) and Julian Lewis Jones (“Mr. Jones”).

Coming of age drama “Sweetheart” by Marley Morrison (“Baby Gravy”) is produced by Michelle Antoniades (“Angry Birds on the Run”) and stars Jo Hartley (“After Life”), Nell Barlow (“Married to a Paedophile”) and Ella-Rae Smith (“The Stranger”).

BFI London Film Festival director Tricia Tuttle said: “A works-in-progress event uses the moment of the festival to offer more direct support for the incredible talent that we have in the U.K. and the producers and businesses backing them.”

The festival will take place Oct. 7-18 and the showcase on Oct. 9.

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