We are excited to announce the award-winning directors and prominent screen executives who will support 19 next-generation Scotland-based filmmakers as part of the festival’s talent development labs.

Mentors and facilitators for the two talent labs, New Talent Mentorship Scheme and Animatic, include Oscar-winning filmmaker Brenda Chapman (director of Brave and Prince of Egypt, Head of Story for The Lion King), noted film production and finance executive Tom Harberd (Black Mass, Tar, Talk to Me), Netflix executive Lauren Castro, Creative Director of Animation & Digital Content at Hasbro, and Ayoola Solarin, BAFTA and Sundance-winning director Felipe Bustos Sierra (Nae Pasaran, Everybody to Kenmure Street), and Emmy-winning filmmaker Lindsey Dryden (The Callers, Lost and Sound).

Animatic and the New Talent Mentorship Scheme are designed to support exciting filmmaking talent at various stages of their careers, including those from backgrounds underrepresented in the industry. The labs are part of the festival’s commitment to improving the future diversity of UK talent and build on GFF’s existing work of nurturing exceptional UK screen talent throughout their careers.

Animatic, now in its fourth year and made possible with funding from the Scottish Government’s Expanded Festivals Fund through Creative Scotland, will support the development of two animated feature films and four animated TV series from Scotland-based filmmakers, for an international audience.

The lab culminates with a live pitch during GFF Industry Focus, Scotland’s largest conference for film and the wider screen industries, which runs from 1 to 5 March, where participants will compete for Best Features Pitch and Best Series Pitch, with cash prizes of £6,000 and £3,000, respectively.

The Börödzo Prize for Best Series Pitch is sponsored by animation studio Astley Baker Davies, creators of Peppa Pig, and named in honour of their first series, The Big Knights.

Participants, who were announced earlier this year, are currently taking part in a six-month training programme before the pitch, with sessions, meetings and workshops being delivered by renowned filmmakers and executives from leading animation and screen organisations, including Netflix, BFI, and Mackinnon & Saunders.

A selection of Scotland’s brightest new creative talent will also participate in the eighth year of the New Talent Mentorship Scheme, a GFF talent lab funded by the William Grant Foundation.

The next cohort of filmmakers, who were announced in October, are currently being mentored by an experienced director who will provide them with practical support throughout the course of the six-month scheme.

One mentee and one Animatic participant will also each receive an award of £1,750, provided by The Bridge Awards, for hard work and commitment shown to the programme.

This year’s mentors have been revealed as BAFTA and Sundance-winning filmmaker Felipe Bustos Sierra (Nae Pasaran, Everybody to Kenmure Street), Emmy-winning, Sundance-supported, and Oscar-shortlisted filmmaker Lindsey Dryden (The Callers, Lost and Sound), and Award-winning filmmaker Tom Nicoll (Salvation). The full list of mentors will be confirmed at a later date.

GFF is Scotland’s flagship film festival, run by us at Glasgow Film, a charity which also operates Glasgow Film Theatre. Glasgow Film Festival is made possible by support from Screen Scotland, awarding National Lottery funding, and Glasgow Life.

GFF’s Industry Focus will run from 1 to 5 March, with the full programme announced on Wednesday 27 January.

Press and industry accreditation will open on Wednesday 2 December.