With the global film industry descending on the south of France for the 79^th Cannes Film Festival, Film London was there to bang the drum for the capital’s screen industries and help make meaningful connections between creatives, funders and infrastructure partners.

As well as individual meetings with execs, studios, partners and screen commissions from all over the world, we ran and took part in a series of events throughout the festival.

Film London was on hand to support our partners from the British Film Commission and UK Screen Alliance as they ran a successful panel championing the UK’s VFX and post-production capabilities, covering areas like VFX, sound, colour and film laboratory services, as well as the UK’s generous tax incentives.

We then hot-footed it from the UK Screen HQ to the Marché du Film, where Film London CEO Adrian Wootton OBE moderated a panel entitled All change, please: identifying new content strategies, partners and IP in a shifting landscape, which explored the changing world of filmmaking, with a particular eye on areas like development, funding, acquisitions and the impact of the creator economy. Adrian was joined by Jordan McGarry, Senior Creative Advisor, PFM New Talent & Upstream; Abdi Ali, Acquisitions and Development Manager at Bankside Films and two members of the team behind hotly-tipped UK-Jamaican folk horror feature Duppy: writer-director Ajuán Isaac-George and Development Producer Dorottya Székely.

The panelists discussed issues like balancing personal artistry and commercial viability; finding local stories with the potential to travel globally and the challenges facing debut filmmakers, with the Duppy team stressing the importance of platforms like the Production Finance Market and IP showcase Upstream, both of which helped them hone their pitch and their package for a presentation to 150+ potential financiers at this year’s Frontières Platform, Cannes’ biggest genre showcase. Filmmakers wanting to follow in the Duppy team’s demonic footsteps should click here to find out more about PFM, as applications are open now.

That evening saw Film London host its perennially popular talent mixer in partnership with media accountancy specialists Alliotts. The event brought together a range of exciting emerging talent, including Film London alumni showing, pitching and packaging their latest projects at Cannes alongside storied producers, VFX specialists and financiers.

After a day of meetings, Monday night was all about the Global Production Awards. Film London and its partner Creative Zero were nominated in the ‘Sustainability Initiative’ category for our work on The Fuel Project, which forms part of our ongoing work to make the screen industries more sustainable. The Fuel Project offers practical information, steps and support to film and TV production suppliers as they make the move toward new, low carbon technologies, helping drive down emissions across the industry. A huge congratulations to the team for their nomination, and to all our peers and partners across the UK who also received nominations!

As ever it was an intense but inspiring few days, but one built on inspiring stories, innovative ideas and meaningful connections with friends, peers, partners and colleagues across the world – we can’t wait to continue these conversations into the year ahead.