Netflix announced June 10 the five filmmaking teams, selected from thousands of applications, that will receive funding and professional support during the fourth year of the Netflix Documentary Talent Fund. The filmmakers were selected by a jury of industry experts after pitching their idea for short documentary films inspired by the prompt, “On the theme of change.”
The fund to date has championed filmmakers from across the whole of the UK and Ireland, with Netflix supporting talent from Wicklow to the Isle of Wight and Yorkshire to the West Midlands this year.
This year’s successful recipients and their projects are:
- Albie Swingler and Dorottya Székely: The Garden We Made. Sixty years after the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in the UK, a queer elder moves into the UK’s first ever LGBTQ+ retirement home and begins to unlearn a lifetime of secrecy.
- Christine Saab and Rose Palmer: Luke Finds Fossils. On the Isle of Wight, the UK’s most prolific fossil hunter is transforming his garage into a DIY dinosaur museum. For Luke, a 35-year-old autistic father, it’s more than a passion project, it’s an attempt to turn a lifelong obsession into a bridge to his young daughter.
- Amy Sargeant & Gabriela Cavanagh: Shiptonthorpe’s Summer. After anonymous poison pen letters turn a quiet Yorkshire village into global headlines, a community theatre production offers the chance to rewrite the story.
- Helen Sanfey and Catherine Donohoe: Lisdoonvarna: Changing The Algorithm. As the world swipes right, a 21-year-old returns to the old ways, learning the art of love from Ireland’s last traditional matchmaker, his 83-year-old grandfather.
- Bhulla Beghal and Sima Gonsai: Factory Dad. From the backyard of a family home, one of the last textile factories in the Black Country keeps running against the tide of a changing world. Inside, an Indian-born father spends his days crafting British wax and tweed coats alongside his faithful cat, Lola. His filmmaker son embarks on a journey to understand the man behind the work, and the life woven into every stitch.
Each team will now be supported by Netflix to produce a short documentary of 8-12 minute duration, with a budget of £30,000 each. In partnership with Sheffield DocFest, the films will be screened in Sheffield in Summer 2027. All recipients will undergo bootcamp training from experts at Netflix who will coach and host workshops covering Creative, HR and Production. The initiative provides filmmakers with a personalised experience to best suit their levels of expertise and help them further their careers.
This year, the judging panel included Raul Niño Zambrano (Creative Director of Sheffield DocFest); Olaide Sadiq (BAFTA Winning director of Grenfell Uncovered and BAFTA Breakthrough); Billie Shepherd (Producer, Beckham, Victoria Beckham); Michael Harte (Emmy award winning Editor of Still: A Michael J Fox Movie, Director of Kylie); David Soutar (Director, Take That, Gavin and Stacey: A Fond Farewell) Glen Gathard (Supervising Sound Designer & Chief Creative Officer, Molinare Creative Group) as well as Kate Townsend and Zainab Ali Khan (Original Documentaries, Netflix).
Netflix’s Kate Townsend comments: “We are incredibly proud of the films and creative talent we have seen over the years through the Netflix Documentary Talent Fund. This year’s cohort is no different. The inspiring and entertaining stories we heard on pitch day are testament to the level of talent across the UK and Ireland, and made our jobs of whittling down to five films an incredibly tough one. We look forward to collaborating with these filmmakers over the next year; watching their finished films in Sheffield next summer, and seeing their careers progress in the future.”
Raul Niño Zambrano, Creative Director of Sheffield DocFest, adds: “The Netflix Documentary Talent Fund is a powerful initiative that recognises both the urgency and the responsibility of supporting creative documentary storytelling. At a moment when access to funding remains one of the greatest challenges for filmmakers, this commitment helps to open doors for new voices and underrepresented perspectives. At Sheffield DocFest, we celebrate partnerships like this that not only invest in films, but in the future of the documentary community as a whole.”
In the first three years of the fund 21 short films have been produced with over 70 festival screenings. Following last year’s film releases, Owen Tooth became a BAFTA Breakthrough 2025 and a Broadcast “Hot Shot.” His film Bandscreened at the This is England FF in Rouen, France. The Herring Queen has been nominated for an RTS Scotland award with director Eilidh Munro recently receiving funding from Screen Scotland to develop her debut feature documentary, and producer Isabella Bassett gaining a nomination for a Scottish BAFTA 2025. Imoje Aikhoje, director of Beyond The Divide has recently been announced as part of the ‘We Are Parable’ momentum cohort 2026. Ailill Martin, director of The Good Farmer and the Failed Son, has been selected to take part in the Werner Herzog filmmaking workshop ‘Experience Azores.’
Anna Snowball, Year 2 director of Iranian Yellow Pages, is a Screen International Star of Tomorrow 2025. She also served as a juror for the International Emmy Awards. Iranian Yellow Pages was nominated for a Grierson Award and Critics’ Circle Award, and screened at BFI London, Big Sky, and AFI Fest.
