A Year of Travel

Our Travel Grant Fund, delivered in partnership with BFI NETWORK and BFI International using funds from the National Lottery, continues to help outstanding UK film talent get to important platforms around the world.

This year, over 280 UK film and XR creatives attended major international film festivals, transformative development labs and high-profile pitching forums in 35 countries, with the help of one of our Travel Grants. While many top-tier festivals are held in Europe and the US, the fund also supported trips to reach vital markets and audiences in China, Taiwan, South Korea, India, Nigeria, Australia, Morocco and Kenya.

XR Superstars

Innovation in UK screen culture is on full display this year, with homegrown immersive projects making a splash across the world’s biggest XR stages - from Tribeca and Cannes to Venice, SXSW and IDFA. Out of 20 XR and VR projects funded this year, an impressive seven earned spots in top-tier Competition line-ups, and three scooped major international awards: Impulse: Playing with Reality by Anagram at Venice, Proof as if Proof Were Needed by Blast Theory at SXSW, and Constantinopoliad by Sister Sylvester at CPH:DOX INTER:ACTIVE.

Another sign of UK creators shaking things up in the immersive world was their presence at the newly-launched Cannes Immersive at Festival de Cannes - with not one, but three UK immersive storytelling projects presented: Trailblazer, (Eloise Singer) TaXi (Nilor Studio) and LILI (RSC).

International Recognition

New UK animation and short-form storytelling also made a strong impression in 2025, with numerous travel grantees receiving recognition for their work. Higlighting just a few awardees, at Ottawa International Animation Festival, Simon Hamlyn’s Green Lung was honoured with the ASIFA International 65th Anniversary Best Non-Narrative Award, while the Melbourne International Film Festival presented Best Short to Rashida Seriki and Tobi Kyeremateng for Leaving Ikorodu 1999.

Further accolades include a clean sweep for UK films at Short Film Festival Hamburg with Rhea Storr director of Okay Keskidee! Let Me See Inside, John Smith (Being John Smith) and Lisa Ott (Dragfox) all bringing home awards.

Genre fans joined the celebration at Sitges Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya, where The Man That I Wave At (Ben S.Hyland) won the Critics Award for best short.

Multiple honours were bagged at the Ann Arbor Film Festival, where UK films won both The Edge of Your Seat Award, the Lawrence Kasdan Award for Best Narrative Film, and the Eileen Maitland Award (My Exploding House, dir. Liberty Smith) - given to a work that powerfully elevates women’s voices. To top it off, the Sundance Film Festival recognised Bristol-based animator May Kindred-Boothy with a special Jury Award for Animation Direction for The Eating of an Orange.

Accelerating talent

Sixteen UK participants were supported by our Travel Grant Fund to join 200 emerging film professionals from around the world on the renowned Berlinale Talents programme. This springboard summit - which has played a role in the careers of so many notable UK filmmakers, including Rose Glass (Saint Maud), Clio Barnard (The Arbor), Mahdi Fleifel (To a Land Unknown) - immerses participants in a bespoke schedule of public talks, masterclasses, panel discussions, and discipline-specific workshops. Meet some of the 2025 cohort in our British Council Germany spotlight. (And look out for announcement of the 2026 UK Talents - who will all be travelling out to Berlin with grants from our fund).

2025 also marked the 20th anniversary of Rotterdam Lab, and as a UK nominating partner, the British Council was delighted to support burgeoning producers Hollie Bryan and Abid Khan. Later in the year, Hollie Bryan was also nominated as a BIFA Breakthrough producer and attended the Transylvania Film Festival, Romania, where her feature debut production The Ceremony (dir. Jack King) had its international premiere.

Meanwhile, a shout out to our steadfast international creative development lab colleagues who continue to offer vital pathways for the UK’s most promising filmmakers. These distinguished programmes bring UK writers, directors and producers together with international peers to develop the scripts, features, and documentaries of tomorrow. Many participants attended career-evolving labs led by TorinoFilmLab, Vision du Reel, Sundance, Stowe, EAVE, ACE, and others.

Getting the Green Light

This year we have seen an uplift in intrepid filmmakers choosing more environmentally sustainable forms of travel to get to events. 27 grantees took advantage of our additional green travel bursaries designed to support the additional costs of travelling overland by train to European festivals. (And if you're interested in figuring out more sustainable ways to travel have a look at our Greener Travel Guide for inspiration).

The Travel Grant Fund is delivered by the British Council in partnership with BFI NETWORK and BFI International using funds from the National Lottery. If you have a project about to hit the international festival circuit or have been selected for an international Lab or co-production Forum, find out more about how the fund can help you here.