AN Edinburgh-based film-maker is on a shortlist to win the most generous bursary of its kind in the UK.
Hope Dickson Leach is one of four future stars of the film industry in line to scoop the £50,000 award.
An original list of 15 has now been whittled down to Dickson Leach, Joseph A Adesunloye, Alice Lowe and Paul Anton Smith, with their films spanning the comedy, horror, drama and artist genres.
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The £50,000 IWC Filmmaker Bursary Award in Association with the BFI is the most significant award of its kind in the UK industry, so competition to make the final has been tough.
Entrants had to be UK-based and have their first or second film in official selection at the BFI London Film Festival in Partnership with American Express.
Director of the BFI Film Fund, Ben Roberts, said: “This is a happy shortlist for many reasons.
“All four filmmakers are on very different paths in terms of their filmmaking, each has already developed an enviable confidence and style, and this bursary would greatly benefit any of them. Thank you to IWC for helping us give a platform and opportunity to such exciting British talent.”
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Dickson Leach is vying for the prize with The Levelling, which she wrote and directed and which premiered at Toronto International Film Festival, and has had previous success with her short film The Dawn Chorus, which was selected for Sundance, Edinburgh and London film festivals.
Adesunloye wrote and directed his entry, White Colour Black, and Lowe wrote, directed and starred in her entry Prevenge while she was pregnant.
Anton Smith has been shortlisted for directing Have You Seen My Movie? and has worked on visual art projects for Christian Marclay including The Clock and Surround Sounds.
The winner of the bursary will be chosen by CEO of the BFI Amanda Nevill, CEO of IWC Schaffhausen Georges Kern, and a leading name in the UK film industry, to be announced soon.
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The decision will be announced at the IWC Gala Dinner in honour of the BFI, to be held at the Rosewood in London on October 4.
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