The British Film Institute – BFI - (with funding from The National Lottery) is pleased to be involved in the UK Focus at Tallinn 2021, with support from Industry@Tallinn Baltic Event.
About BFI
The BFI is a cultural charity, a public funder and the UK’s leading organisation for film and the moving image. Our work covers a wide range of activity. We support creativity and seek out the next generation of UK storytellers. We care for the world’s largest film and TV archive, supporting film culture through programmes and festivals, delivered to audiences online and in person. We also fund education initiatives for audiences and skills development for those seeking a career in the screen sector. In working with government and industry, our strategy and policy work sets out to ensure the growth of the screen sector – and importantly, seeking partnerships and collaboration with partners around the world.
BFI staff attending Tallinn in person:
Neil Peplow – Director of International, External Affairs
Agnieszka Moody – Head of International and Industry Policy
Mia Bays – Director of BFI Film Fund
Katie Ellen – Senior Manager International Strategy and Distribution
UK producers and filmmakers attending Tallinn both in person and on-line:
Emily Leo, Kathy Speirs, Margaret Milner Schmueck, Sarah Laita, Sol Papadopoulos, Matthew James Wilkinson, Pippa Cross, Ben Pullen, Sophie Venner, Jonathan Birch, Harriet Rees, Neville Raschid, Ashley Horner, Ben Lawrence, Stephanie Joalland, Adam Dawtrey, Jude Goldfrei, Roy Boulter, Helen Jones
CO-PRODUCTION EVENT:
WEDNESDAY 24 NOVEMBER from 16.30 EET - Capella Room, Nordic Hotel Forum
How does collaboration really work? – ScreenDaily’s Michael Rosser will chair this panel of UK and Estonian producers who will offer their insights into working together on recent projects such as Sentinel, Burial and Undergods.
16.30 – 17.00 – Intro from UK and Estonian national bodies
17.00 – 18.00 – Case studies across three films – Burial, Sentinel, and Undergods
18.00 – 18.15 – Q&A
18.15 – 19.00 – Drinks and networking
Speakers will include the UK and Estonian producers of these films, plus Agnieszka Moody, BFI’s Head of International and Industry Policy, EFI’s Head of Production Piret Tibbo and EFI’s Head of Film Estonia Nele Paves
Find our more about co-producing with the UK in the BFI's Guide.
BALTIC EVENT CO-PRODUCTION MARKET
Two UK projects:
MS Estonia (producer Sarah Laita)
Equinox (writer/director Jonathan Birch, producer Sol Papadopoulos)
WORKS IN PROGRESS
One UK/Czech co-pro in the International Showcase:
Bethlehem Light, director/producer Jan Sverak, Co-producer Eric Abraham
EUROPEAN GENRE FORUM
Three UK titles:
Bloodline – producer Jude Goldrei, director Laura Smith
The Hive (UK-Italy) – producer Giada Mazzoleni, director Marco Pellegrino
The Last Moon – director Sean McConville, producer Stephanie Joalland
SCRIPT POOL
One UK title:
Sci-fi/fantasy Hum – producers Scott Imren, Gareth Jones
UK TITLES SCREENING IN SELECTION AT POFF
There are over 20 UK titles screening in PÖFF across all sections, including both features and shorts.
First Feature Competition:
ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING
THE SCORE
Doc@JUST:
RIDE THE WAVE
Screen Intl Critics Choice:
BELFAST
Doc@ POFF:
THE SPARKS BROTHERS
Fresh Currents:
BOILING POINT
Midnight Shivers:
CENSOR
Estonian Olympic Committee Sports Film:
ARSENE WENGER: INVINCIBLE
BOARDERS
#POFFtrending:
LAURENT GARNIER: OFF THE RECORD
Environment Agency Film Programme:
BOAT SONG
Discovery Showcase:
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
Rebels with a Cause:
Rebels with their Shorts:
BABYTHUMP
EYEHOLES
Shorts Animation Competition:
AFFAIRS OF THE ART
Shorts Live Action Competition:
MISS FORTUNATE
ROY
KAFKAS
Shorts New Talent Competition – Animation:
A FILM ABOUT A PUDDING
Shorts New Talent Competition - Live Action:
THINKING ABOUT THE WEATHER
Shorts Panorama:
HOMEBIRD
THE LONG GOODBYE
PUSH THIS BUTTON IF YOU BEGIN TO PANIC
LAST DANCE
Shorts Alternatives:
DON VS LIGHTNING
BIOS ON FIVE UK PRODUCERS WITH PROJECTS IN DEVELOPMENT:
These five UK producers will attend the Industry@ Tallinn and Baltic Event with the projects they have in development. All are looking for co-producers and collaboration with their counterparts from the Baltic countries.
Please feel free to contact them.
KATHY SPEIRS - Producer
Following roles in film talent development and third sector, Kathy established production company Up Helly Aa in Clydebank, Scotland in 2012 to develop, package & produce feature films & TV projects for the international market. Feature films produced include multi-award winning coming of age Scottish road-trip Moon Dogs (2016), Brexit thriller Concrete Plans (2020), and for TV/BBC Scotland, Pity Party (2019). Working with new and established regional talent with an emphasis on outsider voices and stories, Kathy is a Welsh exile with an Irish passport and feels strongly European. She is looking forward to meeting colleagues and friends in Tallinn and to making connections for future work and collaborations.
Kathy Speirs kathy@upha.co.uk
SOL PAPADOPOULOS – Producer & Director
Sol began as a stills photographer before progressing to moving image following a 16mm short course at the National Film School. After making documentaries and short dramas as a freelancer for major broadcasters both national and international - collecting numerous awards along the way – he founded Hurricane Films in March 2000. The ethos is to tell great stories - whether fact or fiction.
Sol’s documentary work has taken him all over the world shooting from the decks of the world’s largest aircraft carrier out of Pearl Harbour to the deserts of the Middle East. He has produced eight feature films including three Terence Davies films; Of Time and The City, Sunset Song and A Quiet Passion. All premiered at A-list festivals. His most recent production is the Tim Spall starrer The Last Bus, released in UK cinemas in September 2021. Sol includes six Royal Television Awards and two BAFTA nominations among his many plaudits.
Sol Papadopoulos sol@hurricanefilms.net
MARGARET MILNER SCHMUECK – Producer
Producer Margaret Milner Schmueck is based in the East Midlands where her company Split Second Films has produced a raft of successful short and animation projects, plus one feature film – the 2012 horror/comedy Inbred, which sold across the world.
Following time out with her young family, Margaret is now developing a focused slate of projects. She is in Tallinn to meet co-producers and partners from Poland and other Baltic countries with coastline, for the film adaptation of Finnish book ‘Karikko’, titled The Reef. The film is being developed with German co-producers and is scheduled to shoot on the Baltic Coast in summer 2023. Margaret is also interested in connecting with writers, directors and producers for other projects.
Margaret Milner Schmueck mms@splitsecondfilms.com
SARAH LAITA - Producer
Sarah has been working at The Electric Shadow Company since November 2015, and is currently the company’s Head of Scripted Development and Documentary. She is an NFTS graduate, having completed the Script Development Diploma in 2021.
In 2019 Sarah co-produced Sucka Punch, a short experimental film about the haphazard effects of social media, that forms part of ‘The Uncertain Kingdom’ initiative. She is currently producing a feature-length true crime documentary, provisionally titled South African Murder, about the horrific murder of Andrea Venter in South Africa.
Her other credits include McQueen (2018), The Hippopotamus (2017), Guns Akimbo (2019), SAS: Red Notice (2020), Rogue (2020), Honest Thief (2020), and Boiling Point (2021).
Sarah is attending Tallinn with ESC’s feature film project MS Estonia which is currently in the early phases of development and is featured in the Co-Pro Market. She is seeking co-production partners from the Baltic region, as well as financing opportunities.
Sarah Laita sarah@electricshadowcompany.com
EMILY LEO - Producer
Emily Leo is a BAFTA and BIFA-winning producer with a track record for discovering new voices and taking risks on distinctive material. Starting Wigwam Films in 2012, Emily sought out and backed the emerging voices on which the company was built. Babak Anvari’s debut feature Under The Shadow won a BAFTA for Best Debut as well as prizes at festivals around the world, and was the UK’s submission to the Oscars as a Foreign Language film. Emily’s commission of an idea from emerging theatre writers Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Vicky Jones resulted in the TV Series Run, which Emily executive produced for HBO and eOne, and which aired in 2020.
Emily also produced An Evening With Beverley Luff Linn, which premiered at Sundance 2018, and Netflix’s first UK Original, iBoy. In 2015 she was a Screen International “Future Leader”.
Emily set up Wild Swim Films with Ivana Mackinnon in 2018. The pair currently have two films in post production: Tuesday, Daina O’ Pusic’s debut feature starring Julia Louis Dreyfus, and Nocebo, Lorcan Finnegan’s third film, starring Eva Green, Chai Fonacier and Mark Strong.
Emily Leo emily@wildswimfilms.com
Further info on BFI and UK presence at international film festivals and markets and on funding opportunities:
https://weareukfilm.com/ or contact info@weareukfilm.com
https://www.bfi.org.uk/get-funding-support/funding-support-international-activity
