Estuary on Film
The Winners Announced
The winners of the inaugural Estuary on Film – a regional talent development opportunity delivered by Screen South in partnership with Creative Estuary – can now be revealed.
Charlie Tidmas, George Morgan, Natalie Mitchell & Vickie Donoghue and Yero Timi-Biu will now see their creative and thought-provoking proposals for short films be realised thanks to a £20,000 fund from Creative Estuary.
The initiative is designed to further strengthen partnerships and connections across the Estuary, demonstrating its growth as a creative industries cluster and the wealth of talent in the region amongst our emerging and established filmmakers. The opportunity to make a short film which presents unique stories and diverse perspectives from the area will also act as a showcase of the breadth of the Estuary’s creative potential.

Introducing the Estuary On Film Commissions
Given a brief of putting forward fresh and innovative proposals for an equal share of the funding, the emerging Estuary-based filmmakers, writers, actors, and directors were tasked with reflecting core characteristics of the Thames Estuary region; diversity, ideas, and themes that really matter to local communities and originality. The winning entries certainly hit the mark.
Charlie Tidmas - Ceremony
Writer/director Charlie Tidmas’ Ceremony is about a young trans man, who is hounded by a gang of men seemingly out for his blood in an unusual ceremony of acceptance, masculinity, and integration into their tribe.
George Morgan - The Red Ball
The Red Ball, by writer/director George Morgan revolves around the story of a second-generation Black British teen who is forced to migrate from Brixton across the Estuary towards Essex and subsequently confront his attitude towards grief following a family tragedy.
Natalie Mitchell & Vickie Donoghue -
Halfway Between the Land and Sea
In Halfway Between the Land and Sea we meet Unworldly Shaun, who has never left Essex before; but when an unexpected trip on the Tilbury-Gravesend Ferry opens up his mind and viewpoint, he begins to see more clearly where he’s from, and more importantly, where he could go. The script is the work of the writers Vickie Donoghue and Natalie Mitchell, working with director Scott Hurran.
Yero Timi-Biu - Essex Girls
Completing the quartet of new films is Essex Girls which flips the popular stereotype of young women from the county, instead taking the viewer on an exploration of Black British girlhood and magical female friendships in 2009 Essex. It is the work of writer-director Yero Timi-Biu and writer and actress Busayo Ige.
Each individual and team will now be given £5000 each to transform their script concepts into a fully-realised short features, on the basis that they must be made in the Thames Estuary region as far as possible, drawing on local crew and talent.
In addition to the £5000, the filmmakers will also be supported at every stage of the production process by Screen South and industry professionals, encouraging their artistic ambitions and helping them to excellence across all areas of activity. Once the films have been made, Creative Estuary and its partners will help the filmmakers with their distribution plans and assist in getting their work placed on Estuary-based festivals and cinemas, seeking high profile promotion opportunities for the film screenings to various audiences in diverse locations.
The completed films will be shown for the first time at a world premiere screening at a major venue in the Estuary area.
