Short Cut Film Fund Awardees 2025-26
What is the Short Cut Film Fund?
The Short Cut Film Fund provides the opportunity for aspiring young filmmakers to develop their creative portfolio. Awardees receive £1000 to create a 5-minute short film. They also receive tailored mentorship to support their creative development as well as a 121 sessions with BFI NETWORK talent executives.
Meet our Short Cut Film Fund awardees for 2025-26!
Each successful awardee is currently busy making their films. Find out a little bit more about them below.
Aminah Alhamdu
Short Cut Film Fund 25-26 Awardee
Aminah Alhamdu is an emerging British-born Ghanaian writer and filmmaker. She is a Media graduate who, alongside receiving 1st-class honours, won an academic prize for penning a feature-length adaptation of the classic play Volpone, in the style of Clueless. She has written, directed and produced several short-form projects including Vignettes, a conceptual visual arts film, and a series of four distinct micro-shorts as a grantee on Rural Media’s recent ArtFlicks cohort. Aminah is dedicated to bringing diverse, witty, original projects to life and is focused on centring complex, flawed and unconventional female characters.
Fiona Poda
Short Cut Film Fund 25-26 Awardee
Fiona Poda was born in Albania, raised in Italy, and moved to the UK to study Physics and Astrophysics, which have become her academic passions. Like many people who love science, she also has a deep love for art, and both have played an equally vital role in her personal growth. Photography has been her way of framing the world for years — through both film and digital — capturing the kinds of natural landscapes and quiet storytelling she wants to hold onto. She’s looking forward to creating a project that reflects the quiet connection between people — how simple actions, though easily overlooked, can help us transcend societal barriers and reach the backbone of what it means to be human.
