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Netflix has announced six filmmakers who will receive funding and professional support to make a short documentary as winners of the third year of the Netflix Documentary Talent Fund.
“After a rigorous application process and thousands of submissions, a shortlist of 12 film teams from across the UK and Ireland have been invited to Netflix’s UK headquarters to pitch to a panel of industry experts this month,” the streamer said. They were asked to come up with ideas inspired by the query, “you’ll never believe this…”
These are the winners, revealed on Thursday.
David Chabeaux and Owen Tooth – Band
A factory worker from the middle of England leads a bizarre Marching Band cult down a hilariously dark spiral of obsession.
Lisa Smith and Jack Lilleywhite – Angry Bird
After the change of life crash Romani banger runner Georgie, known as ‘Angry Bird’, is stripped of the space that once gave her power. Determined to become champion, she is forced to confront her ethnic identity as the only woman on the track.
Eilidh Munro and Isabella Bassett – Queen of the herring
A teenage girl is crowned Herring Queen in a beauty pageant in a small Scottish fishing village as the community clings to the past and the world faces major changes.
Imoje Aikoje – We stand divided
The doc explores the rise of far-right extremism in the UK through a dialogue between a black activist and former neo-Nazi.
Ailill Martin & Peter Kilmartin – The good farmer and the failed son
A drag queen is about to inherit the family farm.
Maya Avidov and Savannah James-Bayly – Collage crimes
This is the story of a daring art prank that turned stolen library books into provocative collages, led to a six-month prison sentence for theft and vandalism, and continues to leave an artistic legacy more than 60 years later.
Netflix will support each team to produce a short documentary of 8 to 12 minutes with a budget of £30,000 ($37,710) for each team. The films will be released on Netflix’s YouTube channel in the summer.
Teams will receive bootcamp training from Netflix experts who will lead and facilitate workshops covering creative, HR and production.
Netflix’s Kate Townsend led a team of industry professionals in forming the jury to select the final teams. Among them were Aloke Devichand (Head of Documentaries, Mindhouse); Andy Mundy Castle (director, White Nanny Black Child, and founder, DocHearts); Anna Higgs (Chair of the BAFTA Film Committee); Danny Moltrasi (Senior Short Film Developer at Raindance); Bao Nguyen (director, Biggest Night in Pop); Felicity Morris (director, Tinder scammer and American nightmare); Lyttania Shannon (Director, sweet bobby); Nicky Varley (Head of Production, Curious Film) and Zainab Ali Khan (Commissioning Team, Original Documentaries, Netflix).
“This year the competition was stronger than ever and we were so inspired by the filmmakers we met on launch day – so much so that we decided to fund six films instead of five this year,” said Townsend. “Ideas came in from all over the UK and Ireland and we loved hearing all the great and fun stories. We are confident that we have found some of the most exciting and talented up-and-coming filmmakers in the industry.”
During the first two years of the Netflix doc fund, 15 short films were produced. Iranian Yellow Pagescreated by Anna Snowball and Abolfazl Talooni, and Black kickfilm by Olivia Smart, was shortlisted for the best short documentary film at this year’s Grierson Awards, doc Love languagesdirected by Jason Osborne, made last year’s BAFTA shortlist for British short film.
