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The Pitch Film Fund 2025 recipients announced

January 20, 2025

The Pitch Film Fund has announced the winners of its 2025 Awards, following yesterday’s finals held at BFI Stephen Street. Lizzie Hart’s comedy Kitty, and Grace Okyere-Fosu’s drama, The Acres, received The Pitch Film Fund 2025 Production Awards. The Lucy Scher Award was presented to Alice Johannessen for Flesh & Blood.

The ideas of this year’s finalists cover a wide range of topics and formats from horror puppetry and dystopian sci-fi, to social drama and biting satire. Entrants are from around the UK and Europe. The ten 2025 finalists, whose original submissions (before the start of The Pitch mentoring process) are available to view on the Enter The Pitch website, have a broad range of backgrounds from a theatre studies graduate, to a script editor, an animation and puppetry director, actresses, writers and directors.

Hart, a recent theatre studies graduate from Derby, was presented with the Comedy Production Award for Kitty, a laugh-out-loud romcom about a charismatic neurodivergent shop assistant, grappling with her first crush, a treasure hunt and the perfect jumper. The judges commended her for her natural storytelling and her ability to shine a light on the personality of a neurodivergent person, helping the audience hear their unique underrepresented voice with an adaptation of the parable The Pearl of Great Price.

Hart said: “The Pitch experience has been a total dream from start to finish and I’m so honoured that I’ve been given this opportunity to tell Kitty’s story; a story for the many people who see the world a little differently. I can’t wait to get started!”

Okyere-Fosu an actress/writer from Manchester, received the Drama Production Award for The Acres, a story about a mother who builds a garden to cope with her grief, bonding with an anxious new mother in the process. It is inspired by the redemption story, a Song of Ascent, which speaks of sowing seeds, even with tears, and then reaping a reward of joy. The poetic story explores this through grief over the actions of a murderer.

Okyere-Fosu said: “I’m excited that I get to make this film. I love these characters and I can’t wait to view the world from their perspective.”

This year’s Lucy Scher Award, for the best female filmmaker, went to Johannessen, a script editor from Leamington Spa, who captivated judges with Flesh & Blood, a domestic thriller set in an isolated rural village in England. The film tells the story of Julia, a woman in her mid-40s who’s been tasked with hosting the perfect family event for her parents’ golden wedding anniversary. But on the day of the party, an unsettling revelation about her brother forces Julia to confront a deeply buried family secret. It is inspired by the story of David, Jonathan and Saul.

Johannessen remarked that: “It’s incredibly special to be awarded the Lucy Scher Award, Lucy had such an impact on The Pitch and it’s an honour to be part of her legacy supporting female filmmakers.”

Schery, co-founder of The Script Factory, was a friend of The Pitch and former judge, who died in 2018. Her passion for championing new screenwriters is being honoured with this special award. Johannessen will receive development mentoring with The Script Factory’s Justine Hart, a screenwriter and script developer.

Judge and former Pitch Finalist (2016), BAFTA-winner Gbemisola Ikumelo (Black Ops, Brain in Gear) commented on Hart’s comedy saying: “Lizzie Hart’s pitch was a masterclass in how to excite and relax audiences with huge belly laughs and then, whilst our defences are down, sucker punch us with heart and emotion.”

On Okyere-Fosu’s drama, Ikumelo said: “I believe Grace is going to be a household name in the film industry. Even her early work boasts of a beauty and poise that belies her experience and when you meet a talent like that, you simply have to support them.”

Luke Walton, founder of The Pitch, said: “In sixteen years of pitch finals I have never seen an entire panel in tears and roaring with laughter at one and the same time – when you are running a film fund Lizzie is the raw new talent you dream of finding. To combine that with bringing a genuinely unheard voice to the screen made for an exceptional pitch. Grace is an exceptional writing talent. The USP of our fund is to adapt an ancient text from the world’s oldest book and watching Grace bring forth an emotional tale entwined with the understanding of the original text was inspiring. Her story engages all the senses and we are so excited to move into development.”

Judge Alice Cabañas, Head of BFI Network, said: “It has been a joy to have the chance to help discover and celebrate emerging filmmakers through these unique Awards. And a perfect example of how millennia-year-old stories can continue to inspire filmmakers and still resonate with audiences today.”

Animation and puppetry director Joseph Wallace from Hastings, E. Sussex, an animation and puppetry director, is the recipient of the Outstanding Drama Award with The Exorcism of Gerasene, about a physician who is summoned to a remote coastal village to help a possessed man, where he soon realises there is more than one kind of demon lurking and that the village is harbouring a dark secret. Wallace brings an old-school folk horror approach to his adaptation of this story, with a blend of live action, puppets and shadow play. Commenting on receiving the Outstanding Drama Award, Wallace said: “What a journey! I’m absolutely delighted to have made it to the finals and to receive this award in recognition of my pitch. It has been a joyfully creative journey developing the story and the pitch itself and I couldn’t have wished for a more kind and nurturing team than the folks at The Pitch.”

James Newman, a writer/director from Reading, Berkshire, received the Outstanding Comedy Award with The Idea, a comedy about a gossip-loving priest who stumbles upon a powerful idea. The catch? Everyone he shares it with loses their heads — sometimes literally. It is a cinematic exploration of the verse ‘Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.’ Commenting on receiving the Outstanding Comedy Award, Newman said: “I’m incredibly lucky to get to this stage and I look forward to watching Lizzie’s short film on the big screen. The Pitch has been brilliant and I’ve loved it.”

This is the sixteenth year of the annual adaptation challenge which looks for fresh takes on ancient stories with cinematic flair. This year’s recipients receive a £70,000 funding pot which is split between two short films – one comedy, one drama – plus production support. Pre-production of the shorts will begin next month, in February 2025, with principal photography starting in June 2025. Films are shot with the aim of having them finished in time to showcase at the 2026 Pitch finals, alongside global festival submissions. All of the finalists receive a unique combination of support, advice, training, experience and feedback.

All finalists have completed a residential workshop at the Low Wood Bay Hotel in the Lake District, in December, where they received script coaching and production masterclasses with detailed feedback so that they could fine-tune their pitches ready for the final. Entrants to The Pitch are guided every step of the way. As well as training and development opportunities for everyone who applies, the Fund offers emerging filmmakers – of any background – the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of everyone from Greta Gerwig (The Chronicles of Narnia) to Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men), in making a film inspired by the world’s most read book – the Bible.

Submissions for the 2026 Fund will open online in the spring of 2025.

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