The Mother Tongues Award is a development initiative launched by production companies Ardimages UK and Shudder Films in association with sales agent Charades, UK distributor Curzon and creative agency Intermission. We are looking for feature film projects at treatment or script stage, written by UK-based filmmakers, set mainly in the UK, in which the story dialogue is in a language other than English.
The UK is one of the most diverse and multicultural countries in the world, with more than 300 different languages spoken by UK residents, and one in seven (9.3 million people) born in other countries. The UK also has 14 indigenous languages: 5 Celtic, 3 Germanic, 3 Romance, and 3 sign languages. We want to dig deeper to develop feature films that are written, produced and directed by UK residents, telling stories that take place in cultural communities existing within the UK that speak another language than English.
We strongly believe that culturally-specific stories are not only appealing to a niche audience, but on the contrary, are universal, and that further representation is needed on screen in order to truly reflect the reality of Britain today.
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2021 Winners
KNEECAP - (Irish) written and directed by Rich Peppiatt
A hip hop film about the controversial Irish-language band Kneecap, who are also attached to play themselves.
Logline: 80,000 people in Ireland speak Irish every day. 5,000 live in the North of Ireland. 3 of them became rappers. This is their story.
Rich Peppiatt is an RTS Scotland & BAFTA Scotland winning writer and director. Since his debut documentary feature, ONE ROGUE REPORTER, achieved a global release on Netflix, Rich has written and directed a number of internationally awarded short films and commercials through creative production agency Naughty Step.
KNEECAP will receive development funding for script revisions as well as a pre-production trailer to be supplied by Intermission Film. The Mother Tongues team will be working with producer Trevor Birney (Fine Point Films) to raise production finance. Northern Ireland Screen have also boarded the project.
Follow Rich on Twitter @richpeppiatt
MOTHERS - (Somali) written by Mohamed Ahmed
A fast-paced, high-stakes, urgent drama set in the Somali community of Sheffield.
Logline: Amina is a pillar of her community and seemingly the perfect Somali wife. But when the glass ceiling, once placed over her, is put over her daughter’s ambition of attending Cambridge, Amina is forced to choose between the life she knows and her daughter’s future.
Mohamed Ahmed worked at the BBC before winning a script commission from Channel 4 for a screenplay about Hull’s punk scene. Now working as a screenwriter and producer, Mo is an exciting new voice whose work focuses on the unseen intersections of modern multicultural Britain.
MOTHERS will receive the £10,000 script prize, and the Mother Tongues producing team will be looking to attach a director to the project.
Follow Mohamed on Instagram @hullsmohammed
VAPOURS - (Romanian) written and directed by Adina Istrate
A thriller set in the UK’s Romanian community.
Logline: In a forgotten seaside town, Ioana has transformed the motel she manages into an underground operation helping people leave their old identities behind and start over in an anonymous, off-the-grid world.
Adina Istrate accumulated industry experience writing for TV before moving into film. She has been backed by Film London, the Venice Biennale Cinema College, the IFP, the Wellcome Trust, Breaking Through The Lens and Berlinale Talents. She is also a member of female filmmakers’ collectives Time’s Up/Rising Women, Primetime and Cinesisters UK. Her debut documentary feature 512 HOURS premiered on Sky Arts.
VAPOURS will receive funding to develop a longer treatment based on Adina’s initial outline.
Follow Adina on twitter @onheresometimes and instagram @adinaistrate.film