Aleem Khan shortlisted for IWC Schaffhausen Filmmaker Bursary Award for After Love

After Love writer/director Aleem Khan has been shortlisted for this year’s IWC Schaffhausen Filmmaker Bursary Award which is announced over this year’s LFF.

Michaela Coel will lead the judging panel to decide this year’s winner. The bursary is the most significant of its kind in the UK film industry and is designed to support the future careers of exceptional new UK film talent.

The BFI and IWC Schaffhausen today reveal the 3 filmmakers shortlisted for the IWC Schaffhausen Filmmaker Bursary Award in association with the BFI. At £50k, and now in its fifth year, it has established itself as the most significant bursary of its kind in the UK film industry, expressly designed to support the future careers of exceptional new UK film talent.

The 2020 shortlist are Cathy Brady, writer-director of her debut feature Wildfire, Aleem Khan, writer-director of his debut feature After Love, and Francis Lee, writer-director of his second feature Ammonite.

The bursary is presented in recognition of outstanding UK talent at the beginning or early stages of their careers and is designed to support a writer and/or director by providing them with the financial stability and time needed to develop their creativity. It affords them the freedom to focus on future projects without the pressure of deadlines or the distraction of taking paid work – a precious and extremely rare opportunity for a filmmaker.

Previous recipients include writer-directors Rose Glass (Saint Maud) in 2019, Richard Billlingham (Ray & Liz) in 2018 and Daniel Kokotajlo (Apostasy) in 2017. Hope Dickson Leach (The Levelling) was awarded the first bursary in 2016. Dickson Leach, co-founder of Raising Films, campaigns for improved working practices for parents and carers and is currently developing several new feature films in the US and UK. Following their wins, Daniel Kokotajlo and Richard Billingham were both nominated for outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer at the BAFTAs in 2017 and 2018 respectively, with Billingham going on to win the Douglas Hickox award for debut directors at the British Independent Film Awards. Rose Glass’s debut Saint Maud is released in the UK this autumn.

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