The 69th BFI London Film Festival Announces A Programme For The Inaugural LFF Expanded Industry Day
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Carl Roberts 
The BFI London Film Festival announces the programme for the Inaugural Expanded Industry Day. Get the details you need here.
The 69th BFI London Film Festival (LFF), in partnership with American Express, will debut its first LFF Expanded Industry Day. This event will take place on Wednesday, 15 October 2025. The Southbank Centre provides its support for this initiative.
Part of the Festival’s Industry Programme, the new initiative is LFF’s first dedicated industry platform for immersive, XR and video games. Taking place across Southbank Centre and BFI Southbank, it offers UK creators a focused space to connect with international peers, buyers and commissioners, while giving industry delegates early access to projects in development, insights from leading voices and opportunities to build new global connections. LFF Industry Accreditation can be applied for at bfi.org.uk/explore-our-festivals/industry-forum-bfi-london-film-festival/industry-passes
PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS
Programme highlights include:
The Festival’s first Works-in-Progress Showcase for immersive and games, presenting five UK projects in development – from THE WHALE, an immersive reinterpretation of Moby Dick to MESSIAH, a satirical VR comedy narrated by comedian Kate Cheka
Industry talks exploring creative practice and business development:
Creativity Unleashed? Balancing Artistic Freedom and Distribution Requirements, with international artists, curators and producers from Anagram, Onassis ONX/Tribeca Immersive, Manchester International Festival and AΦE Company (The Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room)
Championing Immersive Storytelling. Funding Opportunities at the BFI, with case studies and insights from BFI fund directors and BFI-supported creatives (The Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room)
A networking reception connecting UK immersive and games creators with international peers, buyers and commissioners (The Balcony Bar, BFI Southbank)
KRISTY MATHESON
Kristy Matheson, BFI London Film Festival Director, said:
“The launch of LFF Expanded Industry Day marks an important step in recognising immersive and gaming within the Festival’s industry programme. It reflects our ambition to celebrate all forms of screen culture, positioning XR and video games alongside film, series and documentary as vital modes of contemporary storytelling, and creating new opportunities for UK creators to connect with the international industry.”
This year’s LFF Expanded programme presents 11 projects spanning immersive art. VR, XR, AI and video games, featured within the Create strand and special events. It also marks the Festival’s first Immersive Special Presentation, Andrew Schneider’s N O W I S W H E N W E A R E (THE STARS). Placing immersive work alongside headline documentaries, series and restorations.
WORKS-IN-PROGRESS SHOWCASE:
Wednesday 15 October, the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer
The LFF Expanded Works-in-Progress Showcase is the Festival’s first dedicated platform for UK immersive and games projects in development. It spotlights pioneering new work at the intersection of storytelling and technology. The session introduces five new works to an industry audience, offering early market visibility. It also provides the chance to hear directly from the creative teams. Reflecting the Festival’s commitment to supporting the next generation of talent, the showcase highlights LFF’s role not only in exhibiting immersive work but also in nurturing the pipeline of future projects for international audiences and markets. The showcase will be open to accredited Industry Delegates only and will not be accessible to the press.
AMORPHOUS: PLAYING WITH REALITY
Virtual Reality (LBE), Immersive Installation
Lead Artists: Barry Gene Murphy, May Abdalla
A daring and transformative multiplayer experience that redefines how we perceive and inhabit our bodies. Through a blend of powerful storytelling and immersive gameplay, it invites participants to embrace the edges of their physical and emotional selves.
May Abdalla is Director and Co-Founder of Anagram, creating immersive nonfiction experiences. Her previous work has been screened by the BBC, Al Jazeera, and selected for Cannes’ Semaine de la Critique.
Barry Gene Murphy is a filmmaker and artist with over 20 years’ experience in animation film making, 3D and special effects, and a decade in XR creation.
CRIPPING UP
Virtual Reality, Standalone
Lead Artists: Meg Fozzard, Amy Crighton
An interactive VR experience based on Meg Fozzard’s lived experience as a wheelchair user. It confronts systemic inaccessibility and challenges perceptions of VR as an “empathy machine.”
Amy Crighton is a director and dramaturg for theatre & XR from the Midlands. She focuses on developing new work in conjunction with writers and working with new technologies. As a dramaturg, they have worked with companies such as the Bush Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company. As a director, they have collaborated with the Lyric Hammersmith, Rose Theatre, and Unicorn Theatre. In 2023, their production CHOOSE YOUR FIGHTER had a sell-out run at Camden People’s Theatre.
Meg Fozzard is a South London-based disabled freelance producer and journalist. She studied Creative Producing for Digital Platforms at the National Film and Television School. She graduated in February 2019 and became disabled in April 2019, drastically altering her career. Her career highlights include working as a Producer on the Museum of Austerity XR experience with director Sacha Wares. Additionally, she worked as the Project Coordinator on the podcast Equal Too: Achieving Disability Equality with HARDER THAN YOU THINK ahead of the Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
MESSIAH (working title)
Virtual Reality, Interactive
Lead Artists: Kate Cheka, Harry Silverlock
A satirical VR comedy narrated by Kate Cheka, placing audiences in the role of “Messiah” as they navigate absurdist worlds parodying patriarchy and late-stage capitalism.
Kate Cheka is an award-winning comedian, artist, and writer who has travelled extensively. She has lived in four countries across three continents and performed in over ten. She brings this global perspective to her work. Most well known for her stand-up comedy career, her debut sold-out Edinburgh Fringe show received critical acclaim. It went on to a UK tour, including a Soho Theatre run.
Harry Silverlock is a producer working across installations, virtual/augmented reality, and film. He is now working with Keiken Collective (Morphogenic Angels, MUNCH Museum, The Factory, Helsinki Biennale). Other collaborations include Mimic Productions (The Matrix Resurrections; XR with Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Björk, Lil Nas X) and Jakob Steensen. His projects premiered at the BFI London Film Festival and DOK Leipzig. An Expanded Performance Fellow, Berlinale Talents, and Locarno Industry Academy alumnus, he focuses on LGBTQ+ storytelling and motion capture.
the BARNS
Virtual Reality, Game
Lead Artist: Iain Cunningham
A narrative game blending rural noir, psychological horror and social realism, unfolding across multiple perspectives as a teenager disappears on land marked by folklore.
Iain Cunningham has a background in factual TV and documentary film, with a focus on personal, socially-conscious stories. His BFI-supported feature documentary Irene’s Ghost was named as one of the year’s best films by The Guardian and nominated for a BIFA award. Through Forward Features, Iain creates work that blends documentary and drama, expanding into games and XR to engage with a wider audience and centre the viewer or player at the heart of the story.
THE WHALE
Mixed Reality, Live Performance
Lead Artists: Jack Hadiker-Bresson, Sharon Clark
An immersive reinterpretation of Moby Dick combining live performance, large-scale projections, spatial sound, and inventive captioning. Developed with and for D/deaf and hard-of-hearing communities, it reimagines VR as a collective, headset-free experience.
Jack Hardiker-Bresson is a Creative Director and educator. He leads the award-winning collaborative practice Office of Everyone (officeofeveryone.com), working with emergent experiential techniques to tell unexpected stories and improve access to the arts. Jack is a tutor/researcher at the Royal College of Art and a PhD Candidate at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
Sharon Clark is a writer for theatre and screen, as well as a dramaturg. She is the Creative Director of immersive company Raucous, a resident at Pervasive Media Studio and a research academic. Her work has won a Bruntwood Judge’s Prize for Playwriting and been shortlisted for the Yale Drama Prize.
INDUSTRY TALKS:
The LFF Expanded Industry Day also features timely industry talks focused on funding, business development, and market opportunities for immersive work. Designed to provide delegates with practical insights, these sessions highlight strategies for building sustainable practices and connecting with audiences in an evolving XR landscape.
Creativity Unleashed?
Balancing Artistic Freedom and Distribution Requirements
Wednesday 15 October, the Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room
This session examines the balance between artistic freedom, distribution requirements, and audience expectations in the immersive space. Speakers include May Abdalla (CEO, Anagram), Jazia Hammoudi (Producer, Onassis ONX; Curator, Tribeca Immersive 2025), Gabrielle Jenks (Digital Director, Manchester International Festival), and Esteban Lecoq (Co-founder & Co-Artistic Director of AΦE and A+E Lab, Choreographer, Dancer). Hosted by Samantha King, Head of Programme, VIVE Arts.
Championing Immersive Storytelling
Funding Opportunities at the BFI
Wednesday 15 October, the Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room
This session explores BFI funding opportunities for immersive projects, with Mia Bays (Director of Filmmaking Fund, BFI), Ben Luxford (Director of UK Audiences, BFI), and Luke Moody (Head of BFI Doc Society Fund) outlining the support available to producers and artists. They will share case studies by two BFI-funded creatives: award-winning filmmaker Baff Akoto (Collateral Echoes) and producer Sophie Crockett (Crossover Labs’ Immersive Fictions Lab). Hosted by Tonya Nelson, Executive Director, Enterprise & Innovation, Arts Council England.
NETWORKING RECEPTION:
The day concludes with a networking reception at BFI Southbank for UK and international delegates. Those working across XR, immersive, and gaming are invited. It’s designed to foster new partnerships and creative exchange.
The full LFF 2025 Industry Programme, including additional talks, networking events and market initiatives, will be announced on Monday, 22 September 2025.
Introducing Carl! As the News Editor at Future of the Force, Carl has been an invaluable member of our team since early 2016. His expertise and dedication have made him an integral part of our editorial staff. Beyond his professional role, Carl is a fervent supporter of Liverpool F.C. and an avid follower of pop culture. He has a deep passion for Halloween, Friday the 13th, and the iconic movie franchises Star Wars and Star Trek.
He can be found either at his neighborhood cinema, enjoying the latest releases on the big screen, or at home streaming the newest blockbuster movies.
