The BFI has published the BFI National Lottery Funding Plan 2026-2029 with £150m available for UK Screen Culture over three years.
The Funding Plan guides how the BFI will invest approximately £50 million a year of National Lottery ‘good cause’ funding, representing a 10% increase on the £136.3 million available over the last three years.
£150m will be invested in the following areas: £33.5 million for Audiences, £13.3 million for Education & Heritage, £61 million for Filmmaking & Talent Development, £35.55 million for Skills & Workforce Development, £1.4 million for International and £5.25 million for Insight & Industry.
Because of the UK Government directly funding some activity previously supported with BFI National Lottery funds, programmes within the Plan have also benefitted from further uplifts.
Lisa Nandy, Culture Secretary, said: ““The UK’s film and TV industry provides a huge contribution to our country. It generates billions for our economy, employs millions of people and demonstrates Britain’s talents on a global stage. We welcome the news of this increased investment from the BFI and National Lottery with open arms.
“From actors and producers to cinematographers and VFX designers, this funding promises to nurture emerging talent and develop industry skills to keep our screen sector at the top of its game.”
BFI Chief Executive Ben Roberts said: “The BFI National Lottery Strategy and current Funding Plan builds on the legacy of National Lottery funding which has played a transformative role on the UK’s screen sectors. This Plan aims to ensure £150 million of good cause National Lottery funding over three years can have the greatest possible impact for the UK public. Coupled with the support of the Government through its ambitious Creative Industries Sector Plan, it can help create the right conditions to see the screen sector thrive culturally and economically.
“We are committed to nurturing filmmakers and creative risk-takers, developing the UK’s world-class workforce, inspiring children and young people, and connecting audiences to a more diverse screen culture – all driven by the ambition to deliver benefit to the UK public and provide support where there is an absence of sufficient commercial funding. We believe the Plan responds to developments across the sector and learnings from the activity we have supported over the last three years and will contribute to economic growth while enabling cultural development and greater appreciation of UK screen culture.”
From 2026-2029, the funding plan will provide support for a range of funds and programmes:
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£33.5 million for Audiences includes the BFI National Lottery Audience Projects Fund supporting a broad range of activity from distributors, exhibitors and festivals working across independent film and immersive; funding for the work of BFI Film Audience Network across the nations and regions to boost public and community access to screen culture; and building on the pilot Open Cinemas fund which has successfully attracted new audiences to independent cinemas across the UK through free regular screenings.
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£13.3 million for Education & Heritage including the BFI National Lottery Screen Heritage Fund offering a broad range of support to screen heritage collections from transforming public access and supporting financial sustainability, through to preserving at-risk heritage skills and enabling training to access emerging technologies; and the Teaching with Film programme to bring film and the moving image into the classroom to support learning across a variety of subjects and to strengthen cultural literacy.
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£61 million for Filmmaking & Talent Development to enable the development and creation of original screen work from first-time creators to world-class professionals through the BFI National Lottery Filmmaking Fund; and support talent developmentthrough the BFI NETWORK with national and regional partnerships to improve routes into the industry for new and emerging filmmaking talent. It will also continue to deliver the Creative Challenge Fund, decentralising project development programmes across the UK, offer high-end shorts funding to further filmmaking careers and fund a delegate partner to support UK independent documentary filmmakers.
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£35.55 million for Skills & Workforce Development including the continuation of the BFI National Lottery Skills Clusters Fund to help grow and develop the workforce in significant production centres across the UK; building on the Good Work pilot to improve working practices in the screen sector; offering Skills Bursaries for those from underrepresented backgrounds; a Skills Fund to support a variety of skills activity for the screen sector including distribution, exhibition and games; and Business Development Training programmes to support screen sector businesses. It will also support a Careers and Progression programme to deliver quality screen sector careers and guidance for children and young people to enter the industry; a Young Creatives filmmaking programme for 7-16 year-olds to be delivered in community venues as well as education spaces; and a refreshed BFI Film Academy(with additional funding from UK Government) to support the UK workforce talent pipeline by ensuring that young people aged 16-25 years have the chance to build their knowledge and understanding of the industry, develop their skills and be employment ready.
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£1.4 million for International including the BFI National Lottery International Connections Fund to enable UK screen professionals to develop creative and commercial collaborations with international partners by participating in international industry events (e.g. co-production forums, markets, festivals); and the UK Focus Fund to support UK-focused activity at established, international-facing industry events. Complementing the internationally focused National Lottery programmes, the BFI administers the UK Global Screen Fund (UKGSF), financed by the UK Government ‘s Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which is designed to boost international development, production, distribution, and promotional opportunities for the UK’s independent screen sector, accelerating export growth and deepening international relationships with the UK. The UKGSF’s budget will expand from £7m to £18m per annum from 2026 as part of the Government’s recently announced Creative Industries Sector Plan.
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£5.25 million for Insight & Industry includes the BFI National Lottery Research and Statistics Fund which will continue to provide vital insight and evidence supporting screen culture and sector development and growth; the return of the Innovation Challenge Fund to help not-for-profit organisations tackle some of the biggest challenges facing the sector today through the testing, development and delivery of new solutions; and Sustainable Screen to support BFI National Lottery funding recipients, as well as the wider sector, to minimise environmental impact and work towards net zero and positively contribute to tackling the climate and ecological crisis.
Jon Creamer
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