Deadline: Rolling Basis
Applications are invited for the British Council Travel Grant Fund 2026. This is a Travel Grant Fund offering grants to filmmakers and XR creatives to support travel to selected international festivals and showcase events, labs, and co-production forums.
Designed for filmmakers and XR creatives, the fund enables you to represent your work abroad, develop new contacts and networks, and reach new audiences. It is particularly aimed at increasing the exposure of new and emerging UK films, XR projects and talent on the international stage.
The Travel Grant Fund is supported by BFI National Lottery funding in partnership with BFI NETWORK and the BFI International Fund.
The fund is divided into five strands, accessed via two simple application processes:
Festivals and Showcases
- Short Film Festival Grants: for new/emerging writers or directors, and for producers of any experience level, to attend eligible festivals to support a short film screening
- Feature Film Festival Grants: for producers, to attend eligible festivals to support a feature film screening
- Interactive/immersive/XR Grants: for XR creatives to attend eligible festival/showcase events with an interactive/immersive/XR project
Labs and Co-Pro Forums
- Lab Grants: for producers, writers, or directors working on new feature projects to attend eligible creative development labs
- Co-Production Forum Grants: for producers with feature projects looking for finance and partners to attend eligible market/co-production forums
Grant
- Awards for Short and Feature Film Festival Grants range from £150- £1,500* but will not normally exceed £750.
- Awards for XR projects are divided into two tiers: Travel only (£150 – £1,500), and Large XR grants (£1,500 up to £5,000) for A category showcases only, as per the Key List.
- Awards for Lab Grants are capped at £6,000 but rarely exceed £3,000. They cannot support a filmmaker or project with more than one lab grant in any single year.
- Awards for Co-Production Forum Grants are capped at £2,000. Each film or project can receive a maximum of two grants.
Eligibility
Festivals and Showcases
- Applications can be made by a project’s director, producer or writer, who must be aged 18 or above and a UK resident or citizen.
- All applicants must have had their short/feature/XR project selected by one of the festivals or showcases on our Key List, and must provide evidence of selection in an official festival programme (not side-bar or guest programme).
- All applicants must have submitted details of their film or project on our UK Project Database and be able to demonstrate that the film/project is an official UK production or UK co-production.
- You must apply at least two weeks before the event starts.
Labs and Co-Pro Forums
You must be over 18 and a UK resident or citizen and must have been accepted on to an event on the Key List.
- Eligible applicants must have been selected by one of the eligible events on the ‘Key List: Labs and Co-Production Forums’.
- For Co-production Forums and where a Lab is project-based, the selected film or project must be a UK production or co-production.
- For Lab attendance priority is given to those who are yet to make (or who are developing) their first feature.
- Each film or project can receive a maximum of one grant per event.
- They cannot accept applications for travel to a Lab or Forum that has already taken place when the application is made. You must apply at least two weeks before the event start.
Application
There are no deadlines – this is a rolling fund. Applications must be made in advance of travel – and they cannot fund events that have already taken place.
- Apply for a grant to attend a Festival or Showcase
- Apply for a grant to attend a Lab or Co-Pro Forum
For more information, visit British Council Travel Grant Fund.
