BFI Flare x BAFTA Crew mentoring programme 2021: meet the filmmakers

Now in its seventh year, BFI Flare x BAFTA Crew is a partnership between BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival, BAFTA and BFI NETWORK. The programme brings together a group of emerging LGBTIQ+ filmmakers to receive mentoring by a senior figure from the film industry, alongside a bespoke programme of year-round events designed to strengthen professional networks and support their progression towards their debut projects in film and television.

Following this year’s open call, which saw an incredible number of exciting applicants producing LGBTIQ+ work across the UK in film, television, theatre and radio. We are delighted to announce the six new filmmakers taking part in this year’s programme.

They join a growing alumni of filmmakers supported by the programme over the last seven years, who are breaking new ground in LGBTIQ+ representation on screen.

Mentors will be announced later in the year.

Jack is a writer-director based in Glasgow. In 2018 he won the Glasgow Short Film Festival Production Attic pitch with his film, Bouba & Kiki (2019), which premiered in competition at the festival the following year. His short film Everyman (2021) was commissioned through the Scottish Documentary Institute’s Bridging the Gap programme, and premiered at this year’s Glasgow Film Festival. He is currently in post-production on Creative Scotland-based on short film Who I Am Now, written by BAFTA Scotland winning writer Michael Lee Richardson, and is developing his first feature as writer-director.

Jack is a graduate from the BA in filmmaking at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. In addition to his work as a writer-director, he works in post-production and is currently the first assistant editor on Outlander season 6.

Tabby is a non-binary writer based in east London. Inspired by Carly Rae Jepson and Tennessee Williams, their work explores the intersections between popular culture and politics. Their debut show, Since U Been Gone, premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2019 after previewing at the Gate Theatre, and was described as “bold, honest and swollen with love” by the Guardian. Tabby is an associate writer with Middle Child, on attachment at the Oxford Playhouse via their Playhouse Playmaker programme.

A graduate of the Soho Theatre Writers Lab, they are currently developing work for stage with the Unicorn Theatre, The Place, Kilter and Petabus. They are also developing Since U Been Gone for television with support from Sarah Solemani through Oliver Lansley’s Wild Child.

Jasmine is a writer and actor from north London. A graduate of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, her debut full length play, seven methods of killing kylie jenner, opened at the Royal Court in July 2019 and won the Evening Standard award, Stage Debut best writer award, Alfred Fagon award, European New Talent award and the Critics’ Circle award for most promising playwright, and was nominated for an Olivier for outstanding achievement in an affiliate theatre.

In 2018, Jasmine was selected for the BBC Writersroom London Voices group. Her short film, home(body) (2020), was commissioned by the Young Vic through their Taking Part programme, and her recent digital play, batshit, was part of Headlong’s Unprecedented – a series of shorts performed in isolation, supported by Century Films and BBC Arts. 

Jasmine is currently writing and developing several projects for film and television including an original TV series, an adaptation of a major novel for Potboiler/BBC and a short film that will mark her first foray into directing.

Margaret is a writer for screen, theatre and radio from Cork. Her debut full length play, Porcelain, was staged at The Abbey Theatre in 2018 and subsequently adapted for BBC Radio 4. Her play Collapsible (2019) premiered at the VAULT Festival before transferring to Edinburgh Fringe and Dublin Fringe, where it won the Dublin Fringe award for best new play, and transferred to the Bush Theatre in February 2020. Margaret is under commission at The Bush and The Abbey, and upcoming work includes The Royal Court’s Living Newspaper and Oak Tree Close for BBC Radio 4. 

Margaret is currently developing television projects with Balloon Entertainment and Number 9 Films, and a feature with Expanded Media.

Temi is an award-winning playwright,  screenwriter and actor from north London. She studied English at Cambridge before training with the National Youth Theatre REP company in 2014. Her debut play, The High Table, was developed through the Royal Court’s Young Writers Group and was produced at the Bush Theatre in Lynette Linton’s debut season, earning Temi the Stage Debut award for best writer in 2020.

Temi wrote on season three of Netflix’s Sex Education, and is attached to the BBC One adaptation of the Booker Prize-winning novel Girl, Woman, Other. She is also working on her own original projects in the UK and the US.

Paris is a writer-director working in film, television and commercials. His short film, Pommel (2018), was funded by the BFI and Creative England, and was nominated for the 2018 BIFA for best British short. His miniseries, The Century Egg (2020), was produced by Refinery Media for Singapore’s StarHub channel. He has directed commercials for companies including NSPCC, Coke Zero, Tesco, Jigsaw, Adidas and Rolex.

Paris is currently developing the BFI NETWORK-funded short film Forgiveness, alongside several projects for television including adaptations of the Inspector Low novels for 108 Media, Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, and The Boy in the Tower for producer Chi Tai, with whom he is also developing his debut feature, Raging Grace.