Tilda Swinton presents the BFI & Chanel Filmmaker Awards 2024

At the BFI’s biannual fundraising gala LUMINOUS last night, Oscar-winning actor, BFI Fellow and CHANEL Ambassador Tilda Swinton presented the BFI & CHANEL Filmmaker Awards: Celebrating Creative Audacity.

As part of the awards jury, Tilda joined her fellow jurors on stage to present the three UK filmmakers with a prize of £20,000 each, selected for their creative audacity and their ambition to explore a new dynamic to their practice. The winning filmmakers of the third annual awards are:   

• Luna Carmoon, writer/director (Hoard) 

• Pinny Grylls, writer/director (co-writer/co-director Grand Theft Hamlet) 

• Naqqash Khalid writer/director (In Camera) 

Guests in attendance include industry stars and luminaries Hugh Grant, Steve McQueen, Lashana Lynch, Alfonso Cuarón, Naomi Ackie, Josh O’Connor, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Daisy Edgar-jones and Felicity Jones with event hosts BFI Chair Jay Hunt and BFI Chief Executive Ben Roberts, there to raise vital funds for the BFI National Archive. 

Swinton was joined on the 2024 BFI & CHANEL Filmmaker Awards jury by Edward Enninful OBE, Editorial Advisor, British Vogue and Global Creative and Cultural Advisor, Vogue, Marie-Louise Khondji, producer and founder of Le Cinéma Club, and BFI Chief Executive Ben Roberts. 

Swinton, on behalf of the BFI & CHANEL Filmmakers Award jury, said: “The three films we have had the honour to spotlight this year represent – with urgency and accuracy – some of the core values the BFI & CHANEL Filmmaker Awards were set up to encourage: self-determination, a reflection on untold life experience and a boundaryless curiosity about the capacities of filmmaking itself, regardless of any limitation. The teams that brought these projects into harbour were all galvanised and led by the sort of practical and inspirational attitude that makes ground-breaking possible in the first place. We honour these individuals tonight and look forward with real eagerness to their road ahead.” 

Since 2022, CHANEL has partnered with the BFI and together, they have created the Filmmaker Awards, launched at the BFI’s 2022 LUMINOUS Gala. The awards build on the house’s century of cultural patronage to inspire creativity, advance the new and the next, activate history to define the future, and supports the BFI’s mission to back the next generation of UK independent filmmaking talent. They also seek to celebrate and champion underrepresented voices, with at least one of the awards committed to a filmmaker identifying as female/non-binary. All projects that rendered the filmmaker eligible had to meet the BFI Diversity Standards. 

Previous winners include Kathryn Ferguson, who won in 2022 with her debut award-winning documentary Nothing Compares about Sinead O’Connor, director of the upcoming Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes, a documentary about Hollywood icon Humphrey Bogart for Universal; and Savannah Leaf, who won in 2023 with Earth Mama and went on to win the 2024 BAFTA for Best Debut British Writer, Director or Producer.   

“It is such a privilege to be part of this prestigious jury for a third year,” said Ben Roberts, Chief Executive of the BFI, “and to immerse ourselves in the work of shortlisted filmmakers, a truly vibrant and exciting group of up-and-coming talent. Making films for a living is a tough business for UK independent filmmakers, so our partnership with CHANEL is so important, as this unique prize can have such an incredible impact on the careers of the winning filmmakers.” 

These awards celebrate creative audacity and provide winning filmmakers with financial support of £20,000 each, allowing them to expand their practice and explore new ideas, cultivate co-creation and knowledge exchange, and widen the representation of voices in today’s cultural community.  

“Luna demonstrates such confidence with her filmmaking and has a vivid and distinctive style that makes an impact. We believe this award can help develop her career and can’t wait to see what she does next.” 

“The sheer audacity of her unique approach to storytelling with Grand Theft Hamlet and having the talent to execute it so brilliantly, made Pinny the perfect recipient of this award.” 

“Naqqash’s ambition and talent were incredibly compelling. With In Camera he has made a truly risk taking and original film and we felt he could use the prize to really experiment and develop his talent.”  

- Ella Glendining, writer/director (director and cast of Is There Anybody Out There?)  

- Savanah Leaf, writer/director/producer (writer/director of Earth Mama)  

- Nadira Murray, producer (Winners) 

- Baff Akoto, artist/director (producer of The Queen of Glory) 

- Kathryn Ferguson, writer/director (Nothing Compares) 

- Sam Firth, director/producer (The Wolf Suit) 

- Erfan Saadati director/producer (Child of Empire) 

The jury’s decision and deliberation covers the filmmaker’s body of work and the strength of their application, and each nominee had to have a work released and/or showcased between 1 January 2023 to 30 June 2024 to be eligible.  

For the 2024 award, the winners were selected from a shortlist of nine filmmakers, developed through a process of collaboration and consultation with experienced professionals from across the sector. A group of industry experts each nominated filmmakers, who were then invited to apply for the awards. Producers, writers, directors, or writer/directors were eligible if they were UK residents, had made one or two features or XR/immersive works which have been released in the UK or presented at a leading UK or international film festival.