BLACKBURN FILM FUND
Inspiring Lancashire’s talented filmmakers to bring their creative ideas to life
Exciting News from the Film Fund!
Applications for the current round of the Film Fund are now closed — but stay tuned! We’re gearing up to reopen applications for the 2025–26 cycle soon.
Our mission is to encourage, support, and celebrate filmmaking talent from across Lancashire. And there’s no better place to experience this than at the first-ever Blackburn Festival of Film, happening at REEL Cinema in Blackburn on 5–6 July 2025, in partnership with the National Festival of Making.
Be among the first to watch two incredible new productions developed through the fund:
Night Cap, directed by Jack Hartley, stars the brilliant John Henshaw (Early Doors, Looking For Eric, Red Riding) and John Burke (The Virtues, Spilt Milk, Batman Begins). Shot entirely in Blackburn, this production offered hands-on training and work experience to 10 BFA students, who shadowed a team of award-winning filmmakers.
Vance Jones is the next standout project, directed by award-winner Beth Rowland and co-written by Paddy Rowan (Little Boy Blue, Time, G’wed). Also based in Blackburn, this production will give eight aspiring filmmakers from the BFA the chance to gain real-world experience and earn on-screen credits alongside an experienced professional crew.
Stay tuned for more updates on the 2025 projects and the next round of applications!
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Blackburn Film Fund Announcement
Grants of up to £2000 were made available to support emerging filmmakers and production companies in Lancashire.
There are unbelievably talented filmmakers and storytellers in Lancashire that need a little support to bring their ideas to life. The Blackburn Film Fund has been created to help creatives achieve their ambitions and draw attention to our regions talented filmmakers.
We want to encourage, support and celebrate film making talent from Lancashire so your films will be screened at the inaugural Blackburn Film Festival. This will take place in Blackburn alongside The National Festival of Making on the 5th and 6th of July.
We can provide advice, support and, where needed, access to equipment to allow filmmakers to complete their productions.
These funds will be used to support production costs and applicants should be able to outline how they anticipate using the funds.
This week the team at the BFA were joined by distinguished alumni Liam and Kyle Bashford to review the applications for the inaugural Blackburn Film Fund. We have made funding of up to £2000 per project available to support filmmakers and production companies to produce a slate of professional short films in our amazing town.
The aim of this project is to show what our brilliant region has to offer as a filmmaking location while providing opportunities for the next generation of BFA talent to work on professional quality films.
We had applications from production studios, award-winning directors and rising stars from the North’s amazing community of filmmaking talent. The Bashford Twins said, “With so much incredible talent and so many outstanding entries, choosing winners was no easy task, but we’re excited to support these filmmakers in bringing their next vision to life”. Liam and Kyle were so impressed with the winning applicants that have kindly offered to be on hand to offer advice and Executive Producer support to the successful applicants. With years of experience at Pinewood Studios and their first feature film being released this week, we are sure this will prove invaluable support to the winning entrants.
Our winning productions are:
Jack Hartley – Night Cap.
Jack Hartley is a writer and director working in the North of England and is also the co-founder of Zomdic Films & Antfarm Film Services, behind award winning short films, documentaries, commercials and music videos (for the likes of Liam Gallagher, Yard Act, The Proclaimers, Tom Grennan, Blossoms, The Lightning Seed and many more).
His entry, Night Cap, is darkly comic with an excellent cast and crew attached. The script, set in a bar in Blackburn, see’s two friends relationship tested as a simple wager spirals out of hand.
Jack’s most recent directing work includes the drama short “Refuge” starring Debbie Honeywood & Roxanne Scrimshaw and the superb comedy Humble Pie which was screened and Manchester International Film Festival (MANNIF). His exceptional short comedy Piece Of Cake starred Steve Evets.
Jack has recently signed to United Agents and his comedy series “The Baths”, is in development with House Productions so it is an exciting time to support Jack on his journey.
Beth Rowland & Paddy Rowan – Vance Jones (Self Defence).
Beth is a rising star among UK directors. She is a member of BAFTA Connect and recently took part in the Warner Bros x Waterloo Road Directors Cohort for 2024. She has worked with Screen Yorkshire, the British Film Institute and the National Film & Television School to both develop her professional skills and support young entrants into our amazing industry.
Along with a witty, funny script it was Beth’s track record that convinced us that she could give our students an amazing learning experience.
Her previous work includes the BFI backed short film Bury the Dogs which starred her co-writer Paddy Rowan (Time, Little Boy Blue) as well as Frank Harper (Football Factory, Lock Stock) and was supported by Producers Hollie Bryan (Cosmosquare Films) & Diva Rodriguez well as Executive Producer Shane Meadows. Bury the Dogs Premiered Internationally at Clermont Ferrand 23 and screened at BAFTA & BIFA qualifying festivals including Bolton & Norwich.
Beth & Paddy’s treatment and script for Vance Jones (Self Defence), made us laugh and brilliantly painted a picture of the characters and their world. We can’t wait to support this film as it goes into production in our amazing town.
Start your filmmaking journey today
Applications are currently CLOSED.
The next BFA x NFTS training week will take place in October half term 2025.
