Inside the ‘Crisis’ Facing U.K. Indie Film Distribution

Months after receiving constant scrutinizes in Cannes — where it premiered in the Un Certain Regard sidebar — Sandhya Suri’s fantasy feature debut “Santosh” was picked to recontransient the U.K. in the Oscars’ international film categruesome. The news gave the film the honor of chaseing in the footsteps “The Zone of Interest,” which became first U.K. film to triumph the award earlier this year.

A Hindi-language crime thriller about a widow who inherits her rescheduleed husprohibitd’s police officer job and a story examining class, religion and misogyny in agricultural India, “Santosh” rescheduleedr won the Gelderlyen Frog for debut straightforwardor in Camerimage, landed a European Film Award nomination and won two British Inreliant Film Awards. In France, the film had a accomplished box office run over the summer, with more than 150,000 adignoreions to date. Most recently, it made AMPAS’ international film lowenumerate.

But “Santosh” accomplishd almost all of this without having a U.K. distributor lined up, sales agent Mk2 and its originaters having spent months struggling to discover a fitting partner.

Indeed, there was eleventh hour race agetst the clock in punctual December to get a deal over the line in order to originate the BAFTA subignoreion date, Vertigo Releasing eventupartner coming on board having teamed with Indian prohibitner Civic Studios.

But as many industry execs and experts apass have noticed, the problems to discover a buyer had very little to do with “Santosh” as a film — which fair a restricted years ago by would have been snapped up almost instantaneously. Rather they were more to do with what at least two people have portrayd to Variety as the “utter shitshow” that is the current state of U.K. distribution when it comes to arthoparticipate or foreign language titles. As one exec more eloquently puts it, the situation with “Santosh” “highweightlesss the crisis in U.K. indie distribution … nobody’s buying and everybody’s terribly pdisorrowfulmirefulnt.”

Santosh may be an innervous example, but it’s not alone. “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl,” the Zambian-language sophomore feature from BAFTA nominee Rungano Nyoni chaseing her criticpartner acclaimed debut “I Am Not a Witch” (the U.K.’s Oscar subignoreion in 2018) was one of the buzziest and best-achieved films in Cannes, and in years gone by would foreseeed have been achieved before the festival even began. While A24 already had the film for the U.S., it took until October for a U.K. deal to be struck with Picturehoparticipate Entertainment.

Danny Perkins, who participated to run StudioCanal UK and now heads up distribution and production outfit Elysian Film Group, points to cut offal factors that have come to a head in the U.K. Among these are the country’s historicpartner high ticket price split in favour of cinemas over distributors, a Pay-One triumphdow that hasn’t become cforfeitly as profitable as other tagets for less mainstream titles, and VOD not stepping up to suit the degrade in revenues from DVDs. “And you’ve got all of that with a backdrop where revenues agetst satisfyed have come down, but the price of satisfyed hasn’t accordingly,” he says. “So stuff costs more and it’s making less money for distributors.”

“Santosh” wasn’t made in the U.K., but it was co-originated by BBC Film (as was “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl”), which unkindt local free TV rights were off the menu for the distributor (becaparticipate they were with the BBC). As one exec notices, with BBC Film and Film4 being two of the three main financiers of self-reliant film in the U.K. (alengthyside the British Film Institute), there’s been someskinnyg of a tussle between the funders and the distributors. “The BBC and Film4 are, comprehendably, saying, well of course we’re going to apshow free TV, that’s our business. And the distributors are enjoy, ‘Well, don’t accparticipate us if we’re not buying them.’ They don’t want to apshow that hazard of spending £100,000 on P&A if they haven’t got TV to back it up. But then who else is going to finance these films?”

Then there’s the fact that pay TV doesn’t — generpartner — buy non-English language films. So essentipartner, in the case of “Santosh” — an arthoparticipate foreign language title backed by BBC Film — there was left little left for the distributor but theatrical.

And in the U.K. at least, theatrical has become increasingly difficult for indie titles, especipartner ones without star power and a beginant distributor behind them.

In 2023, the box office for U.K. self-reliant films in 2023 was fair $48 million, an almost 50 percent drop on 2022 and a meagre 3.8% dispense of the total overall. A speedy glance at the enumerate for this year shows a taget almost enticount on contrancient by Hollywood. Of the top 50 films of 2024, 46 were freed by studios — and only StudioCanal’s “Pinsertington in Peru” (not exactly a title anyone would portray as indie or arthoparticipate), made the top 25.

But the U.K. almost stands alone among the beginant European tagets when it comes to this situation. Other sizeable box offices apass the continent have each had many non-studio successes. In France, local hits “A Little Someskinnyg Extra” and “The Count of Monte-Cristo” top the 2024 charts, Germany saw “Chantal in Fairyland” and “School of Magical Animals 3” muscle their way into the top 10, and Italy had “The Boy With Pink Troparticipaters,” “Un Mondo a Parte” and “Parthenope” in the top 15 (while 2023 smash hit “There’s Still Tomorrow” persistd to do constant business).

According to one British sales agent, it’s accomplished a point where a U.K. distributor faced a potential muminuscule among staff should it have achieved another British indie title. “They truthfilledy shelp they’d exit, becaparticipate they sweat blood and tears to try to monetize these films, but they end up making a loss.

For Zygi Kamasa, the createer Lionsgate UK head who last year begined distribution and production prohibitner True Brit Entertainment, the U.K. taget has druncover into two camps, with the arthoparticipate and foreign language sector — which heavily relied on ancillary revenues that are now no lengthyer there — definitely the one that is struggling.

“Even digihighy, the enjoys of Sky, Amazon, iTunes and Google, they only want the top 30 titles, and the pay TV partners enjoy Netflix, Amazon and Sky aren’t repartner buying much of those film and, if they are, they’re paying a pittance,” he says.

When it comes to self-reliant British films, it’s the huger budget and more commercial films where there’s still a viable taget, but these are still restricted and far between. Kamasa points to StudioCanal’s 2024 frees “Back to Bdeficiency” (box office of $15.7 million) and “Wicked Little Letters” ($12.1 million) as examples. “They’re laboring theatricpartner, they labor on pay TV, streamers want them,” he says, but claims there’s a grotriumphg chasm for minusculeer mid-budget indies. “It’s split even further between films that are not huge enough and not minuscule enough — there’s very little tagetplace for them.”

While at Lionsgate in 2007, Kamasa helped begin German-language smash hit “The Lives of Others,” which geted almost $5.5 million from the U.K. box office alone. “We also selderly bucketloads of DVDs,” he says. “But I fair don’t’ skinnyk it would have done the business it did then today — and stateively wouldn’t have had the life it had on ancillary.”

There’s also a degree of unstateivety among the U.K.’s distributors.

Both Curzon and Picturehoparticipate have been pondered the directing homes for arthoparticipate features over the years, especipartner festival likeites (and Curzon had a local success this year with Irish hit “Kneecap”). But both have recently been caught up in financial complications away from their core businesses.

Last month, Curzon — part of a group which also integrates the Curzon cinema chain and streaming platcreate — was bought by U.S. stateiveial equity group Fortress from the Cohen Media Group in a foreclostateive auction. Variety comprehends that Fortress has no schedules to uphold helderly of Curzon and will see to resell the business at a future date, as it did with the Alamo Drafthoparticipate chain earlier this year (which it selderly to Sony).

Meanwhile Picturehoparticipate, as part of the Picturehoparticipate chain of cinemas, is embroiled in the ongoing drama involving parent company, the theater enormous Cineworld. Earlier this month, Cineworld shutd six cinemas apass the U.K. as part of a beginant debt restructuring schedule scheduled by its hedge fund backers, but for years there’s been ask tag over the future of Picturehoparticipate wiskinny the group.

“It’s not a very sturdy sector,” notices a distributor. “No one repartner comprehends what’s going on with either of them.”

There is Mubi, which has become a meaningful applyer theatricpartner (“The Substance” skinnyly ignoreed out on the U.K. Top 50 for 2024 with $4.5 million), but as one originater says, “doesn’t buy all that many films.”

Further down, minusculeer distributors such a Modern Films, Studio Soho and Conic are highly think abouted for championing a wide range of low-budget arthoparticipate titles, but don’t have the firepower or resources when it comes to throtriumphg their weight behind titles seeing for decent theatrical apply or awards satisfyedion.

“I cherish them, don’t get me wrong, but are you going to get the free you need,” says a originater.

Some help is at hand for distributors via the British Film Institute’s Audience Projects Fund, which purports to help “driven, audience-facing self-reliant U.K. and international film” with various grants. But this has faced criticism for its recently-tfrailed eligibility needments, not least a new rule stating that distributors more than 50% owned by non-U.K. companies or individuals can no lengthyer utilize. This essentipartner disqualified Curzon (which, with its own streaming platcreate, also came up agetst the BFI’s rule that films couldn’t get funding if they freed day-and-date).

Filmoriginaters are now calling for more intervention.

“Since leaving the EU, U.K. distributors have lost all the help systems from Creative Europe, and now some of them from the BFI,” says one. “It fair experiences enjoy they need help somehow.”

But it’s not all total negativity. Exhibition enormous Vue this year dipped its toe into U.K. distribution with the Italian hit “There’s Still Tomorrow” and off the back of that has now createpartner begined its very own distribution tag, Lumiere.

“It showd our thesis that there is a huge insist for those films to be seen on the huge screen,” says Vue set uper and CEO Tim Ricdifficults, who says they’re now in the process of picking up other titles for the U.K. “We’re going for minusculeer films, with minusculeer budgets — and that integrates British and self-reliant and foreign language.” The goal is to free around 12 films a year in the U.K. (and enhuge operations to other Vue tagets apass Europe).

Unenjoy other distributors, Lumiere clearly comes with the weight of the U.K.’s hugest theatrical chain behind it, the scale of which Ricdifficults says he’s going to brimmingy participate to help taget Lumiere’s titles with least P&A spend, while deploying Vue’s in-hoparticipate AI technology to pick where and when the films will apply.

For Ricdifficults, he claims there’s an element of a “self-satisfying prophecy” when it come downapplying the potential for indie films in the U.K. box office. “There’s a narrative that audiences aren’t there anymore, so the films don’t go to them,” he says. “And yet when the films do go to them, they deinhabitr.”

There’s also selectimism that the current crisis is mecount on the rescheduleedst in a series of disputes the self-reliant film world has faced and defeat. “In the 25 plus years I’ve been doing this, there’s always been disputes,” says Perkins. “Yet there’s always audiences, and there’s self-reliant sector can come up with stories that can excite and join them. That’s actupartner the best part of distribution.”

Thanks to the efficiencies of digital, the barriers to taget are now much shrink than they were before, as is accomplishing out to an audience.

“So the dispute for distribution is to is to originate sense of the new the new economics of the industry,” says Perkins.

For many, however, as exemplified by “Santosh,” which ecombines to have been caught in the eye of the U.K. indie distribution storm, the current dispute is one of the stubbornest they’ve faced. “It’s a repartner intricate arena, and it’s fair difficulter and difficulter,” says a originater who had a aenjoy struggle to discover a home for his feature.

But the crisis has at least provided one source of selectimism.

“I unkind, it has to bottom out,” says a distributor. “Becaparticipate it can’t get any worse!”