Four UK filmmakers will each receive £20,000 after the BFI announced the winners of its fifth annual Filmmaker Awards yesterday. The prize, presented in partnership with Chanel, was handed out at a luncheon at Claridge's in London.

The 2026 winners are Rich Felgate, Olive Nwosu, Imran Perretta and Rachel Taparjan. Each directs and writes, with several carrying additional credits. Felgate is listed as director, producer and cinematographer on We, The Hated; Nwosu as director-writer on Lady; Perretta as director, co-writer and composer on Ish; Taparjan as director-writer on Something Familiar.

Who judged the awards?

A three-person jury leadership team selected the winners: Edward Enninful OBE, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of EE72; Marie-Louise Khondji, founder of Le Cinéma Club; and BFI CEO Ben Roberts. Actors Jessie Buckley and Gwendoline Christie joined this year's jury and announced the winners at the ceremony.

The £20,000 figure places the award among the more substantial UK development prizes, and it arrives with no public strings attached to a specific project — the stated aim is career freedom rather than production funding.

What did the BFI say?

Ben Roberts addressed the partnership directly in a statement. "We are thrilled to continue our partnership with Chanel and present these unique awards to some of the UK's brightest filmmakers," he said.

He also set out what the jury expects the money to buy: room to experiment. "This year's winners have all made startling and moving films, and we hope this award offers them the space and freedom to continue to take risks and be audacious in the next steps of their careers," Roberts said.

What does the award's track record show?

Five editions in, the Filmmaker Award has built a list of alumni with measurable follow-through in the awards race.

• 2022: Kathryn Ferguson won with her debut documentary Nothing Compares, about Sinéad O'Connor. She has since directed Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes, a documentary on Humphrey Bogart for Universal.
• 2023: Savannah Leaf won with Earth Mama, then took the 2024 BAFTA for Best Debut by a British Writer.
• 2024: Pinny Grylls won as co-writer and co-director of Grand Theft Hamlet, which won the Raindance Maverick Award at that year's British Independent Film Awards.
• 2025: Harry Lighton, director of Pillion, was among the winners.

That record — one BAFTA winner, one BIFA winner and a Universal documentary commission within roughly three years of their respective awards — gives the prize a conversion rate worth watching as the 2026 winners move into their next projects.

Why the prize matters in the race

The Chanel partnership, now in its fifth year, has made the BFI Filmmaker Awards a fixed January-season fixture for UK talent tracking. The four-winner format spreads the £80,000 total pot across distinct disciplines: documentary-adjacent work, fiction debut features and hybrid artist-filmmaking.

For Perretta, whose Ish credits span directing, co-writing and composing, the award signals a jury willing to back multi-hyphenate authorship. For Nwosu and Taparjan, both director-writers, it marks them as names to monitor on debut and sophomore feature lists through 2026 and beyond.

The luncheon format at Claridge's, with winners announced by jury members including Buckley and Christie, keeps the event low-key by design — no televised reveal, no public shortlist, just a jury verdict and a cheque.