UK Chancellor Urged To Intervene & Help “Struggling” Indie Film Sector By Inquiry Boss

This year’s Filmart was definitely bigger and busier than last year, which was the first physical edition following the reopening of Hong Kong and mainland China’s borders after the pandemic. According to Filmart organizers, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), more than 750 exhibitors and 7,500 visitors attended this year’s Filmart, compared to around 700 exhibitors and 7,300 visitors in 2023. But despite frenetic meeting activity, the market did little to dispel fears that international sales business in the region, already in decline before the pandemic, is not yet recovering. International sales agents under the IFTA and European Film Promotion (EFP) umbrellas had packed meeting schedules.

UPDATED with news that Ranjit will attend the Oscars as director Nisha Pahuja‘s guest. It’s a momentous weekend for To Kill a Tiger, the award-winning documentary directed by Nisha Pahuja.

Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here taking you through what has been a whirlwind of a week in international TV and film. Do not stop here — please do read on. And sign up here.

EXCLUSIVE: UK Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer has said the 40% indie film tax relief will bring balance to a movie sector that has swung too far towards big-budget fare in recent years.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Juno Films has nabbed North American rights to “Girls Will Be Girls,” a mother-daughter drama that premiered at Sundance Film Festival. The movie will screen at SXSW next week before it lands in theaters this fall. Shuchi Talati directed “Girls Will Be Girls,” which is set at a strict boarding school in the Himalayas as 16-year-old Mira’s sexual, rebellious awakening is disrupted by her mother, who never got to come of age herself.

Alex Ritman Wednesday’s announcement that the British government would be introducing the new Independent Film Tax Credit sparked a response that was nothing short of jubilant across the entire sector. The incentive — a 53% expenditure credit that equates to a tax relief of approximately 40% for U.K.

Ellise Shafer During the reading of the U.K. government’s spring budget on Wednesday, Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt revealed a 40% corporate tax relief for film and TV studios through 2034. The plan also includes independent films shot in the U.K.

The UK government is to introduce an extended indie movie tax credit for films that have budgets between £1M and £15M, along with bringing in business rates relief for big studios.

Jeremy Hunt will announce the Spring Budget today amid mounting speculation National Insurance will be cut in a boost for workers.

Alex Ritman Ireland appears to be everywhere on screen at the minute — and it isn’t just a trend. Where 2022 and 2023 had “The Banshees of Inisherin,” Paul Mescal, “The Quiet Girl” and short film “The Irish Goodbye” making noise throughout awards season, plus John Carney’s “Flora and Son” being snapped up in Sundance by Apple TV+, 2024 has already shown that the Irish industry has become a global force.

K.J. Yossman Matthew Vaughn is already deep into producing his next feature film, a caper titled “The Stuntman,” Variety has learned. Helmed by stunt performer turned director Damien Walters, the film tells the story of two brothers who both become stuntmen.

With his debut feature Last Swim, an ambitious and quietly radical portrait of young life in London, Sasha Nathwani has achieved one of the most difficult tasks for a new filmmaker: cutting through with a festival audience. 

Anatomy of a Fall French producer Marie-Ange Luciani put in a flying appearance at the Berlinale this week with Claire Burger’s coming-of-age drama Langue Étrangère which received a warm reception in competition.

EXCLUSIVE: Ahead of its world premiere today at the Berlin Film Festival, Cohen Media Group has secured all North American distribution rights to Made In England: The Films Of Powell And Pressburger.

The heads of UK financiers Film4 and BBC Film voiced concern this morning for the future of the indigenous UK film sector, which has seen its market share dwindle in the shadow of big U.S. inward investment and budgets stall at the big UK funding bodies.

“There’s market failure because the streamers came in, high-end TV got higher end, and Hollywood arrived. And they took a lot of our investors away,” Sixteen Films producer Rebecca O’Brien concluded when quizzed on the state of the UK indie film sector during an appearance at the UK’s British Film & High-End TV Inquiry. 

EXCLUSIVE: Josh Close (Killers of the Flower Moon) has signed on to star in American Solitaire, an indie drama marking the first feature from writer-director Aaron Davidman.

Mubi has snapped up rights across multiple territories on Made In England: The Films Of Powell And Pressburger, the Martin Scorsese-narrated doc set to debut this week at the Berlin Film Festival. 

Naman Ramachandran Film production and distribution company KRG Studios is teaming with acclaimed filmmaker Anjali Menon on a Tamil-language feature film. Menon’s London Film School graduation short “Black Nor White” (2002), starring Archie Panjabi (“The Good Wife”) and Rez Kempton (“The Mummy”), won the BFI award at the Palm Springs film festival. Her directing credits include “Manjadikuru” (2008), “Bangalore Days” (2014), “Koode” (2018) and most recently “Wonder Women” (2022).

Ed Meza @edmezavar Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay’s suspense drama “Hysteria” offers a timely look at Germany’s diverse West Asian community and the subtle racism and hypocrisy that often permeates liberal discourse about immigrants and foreign cultures. “Hysteria” centers on a provocative film being shot by a Turkish-German director about racist arson attacks on German migrant residences in the 1990s. When a Quran goes up in flames during the shoot, the Arab extras on set are outraged, resulting in a set fraught with tension.