Completion Fund

The BFI provides funding for film and TV development and production, which includes international co-productions and completion funding. The BFI Completion Fund awards money from the National Lottery to support the completion of fiction, emerging media and animated feature films that have been invited to launch at a major international film festival. We believe that, in order to have a healthy, resilient and world-class film industry, we need to invest in, develop and present the best talent we have in the UK

We prioritise work that:

• is made by filmmakers in the early stages of their careers
• has cultural relevance or progressive ideas
• takes risks in form and content
• recognises the quality of differences in perspective, talent and recruitment
• originated by filmmakers outside London and South East England

For your initial application you should submit:

• evidence of your project’s invitation to a festival (see qualifying festivals below)
• a finance plan for 100% of the budgeted cost of the production
• copies of all existing production funding agreements (including any interparty agreements), confirmation of how much has been funded and spent to date, and the agreed financier recoupment schedule and/or collection agreement for the project
• the underlying chain of title
• evidence of insurance (including errors and omissions insurance, if available) for the production

Applications are accepted all year round. We aim to let applicants know the outcome of their application within 8 weeks.

Qualifying international film festivals: Annecy International Animated Film Festival Berlin International Film Festival Busan International Film Festival Cannes Film Festival Edinburgh International Film Festival Fantastic Fest Hong Kong International Film Festival Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Locarno International Film Festival BFI London Film Festival International Rome Film Festival International Film Festival Rotterdam San Sebastián International Film Festival Sitges Film Festival Sundance Film Festival SXSW Film Festival Telluride Film Festival Tokyo International Film Festival Toronto International Film Festival Venice International Film Festival

In order to apply for completion funding, your team needs to include a director and a writer (who can be the same person) and at least one dedicated producer who is neither the director nor the writer. Applications must be made by the lead producer on the project.

If you have a sales or distribution company attached to the film we would expect the completion of the film to be covered by them – an application for your project is therefore unlikely to be prioritised.