Next generation of BAME creatives celebrated at B3 Media’s annual ‘Futures Showcase’

B3 Media is excited to announce that their annual Futures Creative Showcase will be taking place at Soho’s The Union Club, on 12th November. The event will showcase and celebrate the work of the finalists from their innovative BAME creative development programme TalentLab.

TalentLab is supported by ScreenSkills using National Lottery funds awarded by the BFI as part of the Future Film Skills programme.

TalentLab’s participants took part in 4 days of intensive workshops, Q&A sessions and one-to-one meetings with industry experts. They were able to learn about sound design, storytelling, creative entrepreneurship, virtual reality and much more to help them on their creative journey.

The cohort have since resubmitted their updated projects and the participants have been painstakingly whittled down to 9 finalists, who will go forward to have their work commissioned.

This year’s finalists are:

  • Comfort Arthur (Animator)
  • Eva Edo (Writer)
  • Annabel Grace (Actress/Writer/Producer)
  • Sameer Ibrahim (Filmmaker)
  • Amer Idris (Creative Producer)
  • Janet Marrett (Executive Producer/Director)
  • Lorine Plagnol (Producer)
  • Moses Ssebandeke (Filmmaker/Artist/Comic)
  • Riley Wong (Filmmaker/Director)

The Futures Creative Showcase gives the TalentLab finalists a unique opportunity to present their projects to an audience of industry experts, creative professionals & film makers.

Following the presentations at the showcase, there will be informal networking drinks where attendees have the chance to connect with the exciting group of filmmakers, artists and storytellers who are on their journey to becoming some of the best creatives in the country.

The selected filmmakers and artists will receive mentorship and development support from industry experts and creative practitioners.

Hear what some of the 2019 cohort thought of TalentLab!
Past TalentLab alumni have gone on to develop thriving creative careers, win accolades and awards, and create incredible projects. Participants have received BAFTA nominations; won prestigious awards for projects developed during the programme, as well as go on to have their work shown at Cannes, Sundance, and other key film festivals.

Some standout TalentLab Alumni include:

  • Rungano Nyoni’s (TalentLab 2014) first feature ‘I Am Not A Witch’ won a BAFTA for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer, and 10 nominations and three wins at the British Independent Film Awards 2017.
  • Soraya Syed’s (TalentLab 2017) whose long-form dance/ experimental film “Majnun,” developed at Talentlab 2017/18 and selected for an Arts Council Grants for the Arts Award in 2018, has just completed the pilot which was directed and produced by The Ballet Boyz.
  • Divya Ghelani (TalentLab 2014) came to Talentlab with a very personal story about the first wave of Gujarati immigrants settling in the East Midlands. With support from B3 the idea was developed into ‘The Strike at Imperial Typewriters’ an interactive installation and digital storytelling project which opened this summer at the Newarke Houses Museum Leicester.
  • Nosa Eke (TalentLab 2017) and writer / director Matthew Morgan (TalentLab 2014), were both selected for the BAFTA / BFI FLAMIN Fellowship in 2018.
  • Yolanda Mercy’s (TL 2014) short play ‘Quarter Life Crisis’ premiered at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2017 in association with Underbelly as part of the Underbelly Untapped Award and has since been published by Oberon Books. Yolanda’s previous show ‘On the Edge of Me’ won multiple awards and was created with the support of Soho Theatre, The Rich Mix and Arts Council England.
  • Richard Ramchurn (TL 2014) is about to embark on a roadshow of his second interactive brain controlled film “The MOMENT”. Richard is a digital artist working across the mediums of theatre, film and digital technologies. He recently completed his PhD, at Horizon’s Centre for Doctoral Research at Nottingham University/ MRL, following his Artist in Residence scheme at the Mixed Reality Lab as part of a B3 TalentLab Programme.

Marc Boothe, Founder/ Creative Director of B3 Media, says: “At B3, our passion is finding, growing and showcasing creative talent with fresh stories that have yet to be told. We focus on developing creative leaders from diverse communities who have something to say whether it’s by way of short, feature, or transmedia art forms. It’s exciting to find and ignite talented storytellers who will blaze the trail for years to come.