As has become annual tradition, the British Film Institute (BFI) has unveiled its 2025 crop of “Great 8” movies, eight features from the “most exciting first-time and early career filmmakers” that it will showcase to international distributors and festival programmers in the run-up to and during the Marché du Film market taking place during the Cannes Film Festival.
They include a movie directed by actor and creative Ashley Walters (Netflix hit Adolescence, Top Boy, Missing You) with Stephen Graham, a drama thriller starring George MacKay and Rosy McEwen, a drama featuring Rory Kinnear and Maria Bakalova, a thriller set in an isolated deaf community, and a Welsh alternative period drama with Rupert Everett.
“Now in its eighth year, the 2025 Great 8 showcase is funded and produced by the BFI and the British Council, with thanks to BBC Film and Film4,” the BFI said. “In preparation for the Marché, unseen footage from all of the titles will be introduced by their filmmakers and screened online exclusively to buyers and festival programmers” from Thursday, May 8.
Briony Hanson, the British Council’s director of film, said that the selection of new movies “shows once again that U.K. film is in rude health with an upcoming slate that we can be proud of. Again, this shows off the range of new U.K. talent, with hard-hitting social commentary sitting alongside broad comedy, with voices representing England, Scotland and Wales, and with a significant selection of stories exploring traditionally under-represented communities.”
Agnieszka Moody, BFI head of international relations, highlighted the “range of unique and original voices from across the U.K.” featured in the selection. “Great 8 gives that invaluable opportunity to help them be discovered by the international film community and by doing so rewards their creativity and accelerates their careers.”
Here is the 2025 crop of Great8 titles…
Animol
U.K., drama
Director: Ashley Walters
Writer: Nick Love
Producers: Thomas Hawkins, Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor, Nick Love, Ashley Walters
Cast: Tut Nyuot, Vladyslav Baliuk, Stephen Graham, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Sekou Diaby
Production: Sky, Film4, BFI, Joi Productions, Rogue State Productions, SLNda
Sales: Bankside Films
‘Animol’ film still
Courtesy of BFI
Synopsis: Animol tells the story of 15-year-old Troy, who is remanded in custody for a murder he didn’t commit. Thrown into a notorious Young Offenders’ Institution, he tries to keep his head down and stay out of trouble—but survival isn’t easy when everyone wants something from you. Amid the chaos, Troy finds an unexpected ally in Krystiyan, another young inmate struggling to navigate the same volatile world. A powerful and tender coming-of-age drama, Animol explores the shattering of innocence, the grip of tribalism, and the courage it takes to be your true self in the harshest of environments.
More: Ashley Walters is a celebrated and award-winning actor, director, producer, and recording artist, known for his seismic role within Black London culture and the UK entertainment industry. He first rose to prominence as part of the pioneering U.K. Garage collective So Solid Crew, whose No.1 single “21 Seconds” earned them a BRIT Award. His breakthrough acting role came in Bullet Boy (2004), earning him a BIFA for Most Promising Newcomer. Ashley is best known for his portrayal of Dushane in Top Boy, a defining series in British television, with five seasons spanning Channel 4 and Netflix. In 2017, he founded his production company, SLNda, to champion new talent and culturally resonant stories, making his directorial debut with the short film Boys for Sky. Most recently, Ashley directed on Steven Knight’s A Thousand Blows for Disney+/Hulu and starred in Netflix hits Missing You and Adolescence, which broke U.K. viewing records.
Ish
U.K., coming of age
Director: Imran Perretta
Writers: Imran Perretta, Enda Walsh
Producers: Dhiraj Mahey, Bennett McGhee
Cast: Farhan Hasnat, Yahya Kitana, Avin Shah, Sudha Bhuchar, Joy Crookes, Arman Mohammed, Is’haaq Hasan Haque, Hasnain Shah
Production: Produced by Primal Pictures in association with Home Team, Good Chaos. Financiers: BBC Film, BFI. Additional support: Calculus Media, Out of Order
Sales: Film Constellation
‘Ish’
Courtesy of Lara Cornell
Synopsis: Ish follows two best friends, Ish and Maram, on the cusp of being teenagers. In a society where racial profiling ensures brown boys are constantly under surveillance, their friendship is ended by a traumatic police stop-and-search. Ish soon discovers that ‘letting go’ can be the hardest part of growing up.
More: Imran Perretta is a writer, director, visual artist and composer from London. Achieving critical acclaim in the world of contemporary art, his sound and moving image work has been performed and shown at galleries and festivals internationally and is included in a number of public and private art collections including the Tate and the Arts Council England. Imran’s most recent film work The Destructors toured major institutions across the U.K. Following the debut of The Destructors, Imran was named a Turner Prize Bursary winner in 2020. His current exhibition, A Riot In Three Acts, is currently on tour and features a new suite of music for string quartet, A Requiem for the Dispossessed, and performed by the Manchester Camerata. In addition to the Turner Prize Bursary, Imran was named a Jarman Award nominee in 2019, and was a recipient of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Artist Award in 2023.
Learning to Breathe Under Water
U.K./Ireland/Netherlands, drama
Director: Rebekah Fortune
Writer: Richard Brabin
Cast: Rory Kinnear, Maria Bakalova, Ezra Carlisle
Producers: Jack Tarling, Patrick O’Neill
Cast: Zubin Varla, Sudha Bhuchar, Sarag Arya, Robert Ryan
Production: A Shudder Films and Wildcard production in co-production with KeyFilm & One Wave Films and in association with Eiru Films. Financiers: Screen Ireland, UK Global Screen Fund, Ffilm Cymru Wales, WRAP Fund, Netherlands Film Fund, Dias Feld, Finite Films, Bankside Films and Three Point Capital.
Sales: Bankside Films
‘Learning to Breathe Under Water’ film still
Courtesy of BFI
Synopsis: Leo is eight, curious, wise and full of imagination. His best friend is a massive shark — half sculpture, half myth — that crashed through the roof of his house one night when his dad, Peter, gave shape to what he couldn’t say out loud.
Leo’s world is full of questions: why do grown-ups act so strangely? Where did Mum go five years ago? And will Dad ever come down from the clouds — or at least remember to do the shopping? Peter’s either buried in big, bonkers art projects or barely speaking, so Leo daydreams vividly and shares his secrets with the shark, who might just be listening but can’t speak back.
Then Anya bursts into their lives: a spirited au pair with her own questions to shatter the silence and answers more honest than Leo has ever heard before. Her fearless warmth and energy brings back colour to their world and uplifts their lives.
More: Rebekah Fortune is an autistic director based in Tamworth, currently in post on her second feature, Learning to Breathe Under Water, which stars BAFTA-nominated Rory Kinnear and Oscar-nominated Maria Bakalova, produced by Kneecap producers Jack Tarling and Patrick O’Neill.
Rebekah’s micro-budget debut feature Just Charlie was released to critical acclaim in 2017 receiving many awards including the Audience Award at Edinburgh International Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival Ecrans Junior Award, and was nominated for two BIFAs. Just Charlie secured distribution worldwide. Her portfolio of short films has won numerous Oscar and BAFTA qualifying festivals. She has mentored for BFI Network, sat on the BAFTA short film jury, and is an alumni of Network@LFF, Edinburgh Talent Lab, BIFA springboard, Screen Yorkshire Flex and Breaking Through the Lens, along with being a finalist for the Academy Gold Fellowship. Additionally, Rebekah works extensively with young actors with Disabilities.
Madfabulous
Wales/U.K., alternative period drama
Director: Celyn Jones
Writer: Lisa Baker
Producers: Sean Marley, Nadia Jaynes
Cast: Callum Scott Howells, Ruby Stokes, Rupert Everett, Paul Rhys, Siobhán McSweeney
Production: Mad as Birds, Ffilm Cymru Wales, Creative Wales
Sales: Sean Marley sean@madasbirdsfilms.com
‘Madfabulous’ film still
Courtesy of BFI
Synopsis: A riotous, uncompromising celebration of otherness inspired by the unlikely British aristocrat who theatrically bankrupted his estate, lived fast and died young.
When the flamboyant Henry Paget arrives in 1890s North Wales from France to claim his aristocratic inheritance, his theatrical flair and defiant eccentricities send shockwaves through the upper-class elite, much to the amusement of the local townspeople. Alongside his spirited cousin Lily and loyal butler Gelert, Henry tries to carve out his own identity as the Fifth Marquess, while contending with the cold ambition of his calculating cousin Neville and the looming threat of the ruthless Lord Penrhyn. Together, Henry and Lily navigate suffocating traditions, scheming relatives, and the long shadow cast by Henry’s estranged father.
Madfabulous is inspired by Henry Paget, the fifth Marquis of Anglesey, who smashed society’s notions of class, gender and decorum, squandering a multimillion fortune before his untimely death. They left nothing behind but love… and a good story.
More: Celyn Jones is a critically acclaimed, award-winning actor and BAFTA-nominated writer from Wales, as well as creative director of production company Mad as Birds. The Times praised him as “the powerhouse writer/performer behind the greatest Dylan Thomas biopic yet.” He won a BAFTA Cymru Award in 2019 for his portrayal of a real-life serial killer in Manhunt, but in recent years has focused increasingly on writing and directing.
Jones wrote and co-directed The Almond and the Seahorse, in which he also stars opposite Rebel Wilson and Charlotte Gainsbourg; the film premiered at the Zurich and Dinard film festivals, winning the Special Jury Prize. Madfabulous marks his debut as a solo director.
Mission
U.K., drama thriller
Director/writer: Paul Wright
Producers: Kate Byers, Alex Thiele, Linn Waite, Marie-Elena Dyche, Lowri Roberts
Cast: George MacKay, Rosy McEwen
Production: Early Day Films, 65 Wilding Films, Meraki Films, Rapt, BBC Film, Screen Scotland, Ffilm Cymru Wales
Sales: Blue Finch Films
‘Mission’
Courtesy of BFI
Synopsis: Mission is a punk exploration of the psyche which follows alienated Dylan (George MacKay) as he throws off the shackles of his solitary life in an attempt to experience the highs and lows of existence at its most extreme. Estranged from his sister Claire (Rosy McEwen), he embarks on a thrilling journey of self-discovery that proves both inspiring and terrifying.
More: Paul Wright is a critically acclaimed BAFTA-winning Scottish writer/director whose work has played internationally at festivals such as Cannes, Berlin and Locarno. An NFTS graduate, his short films have received international acclaim and awards, including winning the BAFTA for Best Short Film, The Leopard of Tomorrow Award at Locarno, and screened in numerous prestige film festivals worldwide. His feature debut For Those In Peril premiered in the Cannes Critics’ Week, won the BAFTA Scotland Best Film award and the BIFA Douglas Hickox Award for Directorial Debut. Paul was also nominated for the BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British writer/director. He has most recently completed Arcadia, a provocative and poetic documentary. The film screened at numerous festivals including BFI London Film Festival, Glasgow Film Festival, and MOMA in New York, before being released theatrically nationwide to critical acclaim.
On the Sea
U.K., drama
Director/writer: Helen Walsh
Producers: David Moores, David A Hughes; Executive Producers: Mike Goodridge, Chris Clark
Cast: Barry Ward, Lorne MacFadyen, Liz White, Henry Lawfull, Celyn Jones
Production: Red Union Films
Sales: David Moores dmoores@redunionfilms.com, Mike Goodridge mike@goodchaos.co.uk
‘On the Sea’ film still
Courtesy of BFI
Synopsis: Jack has been married to Maggie for over half his life. He works as a Hand Raker on the mussel beds in North Wales alongside his younger brother, Dyfan, and Dyfan’s three sons. Jack has always assumed that his own boy, Tom, will join the family business on leaving school but Tom’s resistance to follow in his footsteps creates familial tension. Tensions are further inflamed by the arrival of an itinerant deckhand, Daniel, who makes known his feelings for Jack. In this remote, rural community where life revolves around Church and fishery, Jack is faced with an impossible dilemma. On The Sea is a beautiful, sensual and at times, tragic exploration of masculinity, place and desire.
More: Helen Walsh’s debut novel Brass won the Betty Trask Award and was the most widely reviewed book of 2004. Natasha Walters, writing in Vogue, called it, “One of the most striking coming of age stories I have ever read.” Her second novel Once Upon a Time in England won the Somerset Maugham Prize and The Lemon Grove, her most recent, was a critically acclaimed best-seller that she is currently adapting for TV.
Helen wrote and directed her debut feature, The Violators, in 2016 and was awarded BAFTA’s breakthrough new director. Her recent Channel 4 show, The Gathering (2024), which she created and wrote was the recipient of three RTS Awards. On The Sea, is her sophomore feature and will be released in 2025.
Retreat
U.K., thriller
Director/writer: Ted Evans
Producers: Michelle Stein, Jennifer Monks, Alex Usborne
Cast: Anne Zander, James Boyle, Sophie Stone,Ace Mahbaz, Anna Seymour
Production: BFI, BBC Film and Creative UK present a The Fold and 104 Films Production
Sales: XYZ Films
‘Retreat’ film still 2
Courtesy of BFI
Synopsis: Raised in an isolated deaf community, cracks begin to appear in Matt’s seemingly idyllic world when the arrival of enigmatic outsider Eva forces him to question the realities of his identity. Is Matt prepared to discover what lies beneath the surface of his supposedly utopian community and the costs demanded to maintain it?
More: Ted Evans is a writer-director is from Hackney, East London and communicates in both spoken English and British Sign Language. In 2012 he co-wrote and directed two films for the Paralympic Opening Ceremony – Look Up and Bird Gherl. Evans received international and critical acclaim for his award-winning shorts, The End and Retreat, the latter of which he has adapted as his debut feature film, with production company The Fold supported by the BFI and BBC Film. He directed a documentary, featuring Rose Ayling-Ellis, Signs for Change, which aired on BBC1 after being showcased at Sheffield Doc Fest (2023) and netted him an Emerging Talent: Factual BAFTA nomination. In 2018 he was selected as part of Creative England’s CE50 and his most recent short film To Know Him was nominated for Best Short Film at BIFA 2018.
THE SON AND THE SEA
U.K., drama
Director: Stroma Cairns
Writers: Imogen West, Stroma Cairns
Producers: Imogen West, Kelly Peck
Cast: Jonah West, Stanley Brock, Connor Tompkins, Grant Lindsay
Production: BBC Film, In The Company Of, Studio Cloy, Moment Film Group, Creativity Media, Creativity Capital
Sales: Kelly Peck kelly@studiocloy.com, Imogen West imogen imogen@inthecompanyof.co
‘The Son and the Sea’ film still
Courtesy of BFI
Synopsis: Jonah (26), charismatically ADHD, is a man-child who keeps on slipping, whilst his best mate, Lee (26), nimbly climbs every ladder. After hitting yet another bump and under pressure to see his great-aunt, who is lost to dementia, Jonah contrives that he and Lee go visit, hoping it might also offer respite from himself and the mess he’s creating. Though the north-east coast of Scotland wasn’t quite what Lee envisioned, it holds a certain wildness and wonder. There, they meet Charlie (26), who is profoundly Deaf and attempting to clean up after his shady twin brother. Through a developing friendship that surpasses their language barriers, the three boys form a connection that encourages them to step out of their boyhood, discover the courage to be vulnerable, and that joy is possible despite loss.
More: Stroma Cairns is a BAFTA-winning director based in London. The Son and the Sea will be her debut feature. The film is an ode to her Scottish roots, her brother and his father/musician Gavin Clark. The film features music by Gavin Clark and the score is by Toydrum (former UNKLE members). Stroma directed the second block of the BAFTA winning TV series Mood. She was selected for BFI NETWORK x BAFTA Crew mentoring programme. Previously, her short film If You Knew premiered at Sheffield DocFest, and went on to receive the jury’s special commendation award at the BFI London Film Festival. It was also named Best Short Film at Open City Doc Festival and was shortlisted for a Grierson Award. The film was inspired by her own hearing loss and portrays a day in the life of two teenage twins who are profoundly Deaf.
