FVU New Takes is a new commissioning initiative from Film and Video Umbrella, developed in response to the growing need for meaningful mentorship, commissioning and exhibition opportunities within the moving image field. The programme supports emerging UK based artists at a pivotal stage in their careers, developing their practice and strengthening the visibility and impact of a new generation of moving image practitioners.
Each selected artist received a £5,000 budget, alongside tailored mentorship and production support, to develop ambitious new works for both online presentation and in-person exhibition at Arnolfini, Bristol. Awardees were chosen from a UK-wide Call for Entries by a panel that included previous FVU-commissioned artists Rene Matić (2025 Turner Prize nominee) and Maryam Tafakory (2024 Jarman Award winner).
Hantao Li
Hantao Li is a visual artist and architectural designer, he intertwines real footage with computer-generated imagery to critically explore and situate today’s society and technology. Through radical and speculative fictions, Hantao envisions and interrogates the environments and landscapes that shape the human condition. His primary tools include narrative films co-produced with real-time game engines, actual footage, and scientific foundations, all aimed at immersing audiences in these speculative worlds.
Influenced by video games, architectural visualisation, and simulations, he utilises CGI environments to symbolise structures of power. This approach allows him to craft surreal sequences that unveil hidden realities and probe into potential futures. His work has been exhibited and screened at Simultan Festival, Beijing International Short Film Festival, UCCA, House of European Institutes, and Derby QUAD.
Lucy Rose Shaftain-Fenner
Lucy Rose Shaftain-Fenner is a documentary filmmaker from Essex. Her practice explores themes including lived experiences, LGBTQIA+ rights and activism, empowerment, intersectional identities, queerness, neurodivergence and mental health. Her work has been seen at Norwich University of the Arts for Norwich Queer Fest, at TRANSlations Transgender Film Festival in Seattle and at Out on Film in Atlanta. Her work has also been seen in Queer Youth Art Collective’s group exhibition,‘Dream This Silly’ at Queer Circle in London and in Dreamy Place’s Night Watch Queer Film Trail in Brighton.
Mahdy Abo Bahat
Mahdy Abo Bahat is an Egyptian artist-filmmaker based between London and Cairo. His fixation with
moving image stems from a need to document whilst witnessing the Egyptian upheaval in 2011. He is
committed to crafting hauntologies that summon beings, worlds, and times deemed immemorial by the
ruling discourse. Mahdy’s work has been shown in Cinema du Reel, Oberhausen International Short Film
festival, 25FPS Film Festival, Experimental Film and Video Festival in Seoul and Documenta Madrid.
Jameisha Precod
Jameisha Prescod is an artist-filmmaker and writer from South London. Their work explores how culture,
identity, black history and colonialism influence the way illnesses are experienced. Jameisha was included
on the 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30 list for art and culture and has had work exhibited at the Venice Arte
Biennale, London Film Festival and Unlimited Festival.
Morisha Moodley
Morisha Moodley is a moving image artist who works across video, installation, and text, examining the
entanglement of race, queerness, disability, and theology through these forms. Their work has been
exhibited internationally, including at Hyde Park Art Center, London Short Film Festival, Kasseler Dokefest
and Global Citizen. Amongst other awards, Morisha is a recipient of an AXS Film Fund grant (2025) and a
Develop Your Creative Practice grant from Art Council England (2022).
Anna Engelhardt
Anna Engelhardt is the alias of a video artist and writer. Her investigative practice follows the traces of
material violence, focusing on what could be seen as the ‘ghost’ of information. Engelhardt has shown her
work at transmediale, HKW, Berlin; ICA, London; Kyiv Biennial; Biennial TEA Tenerife; National Gallery of
Art, Vilnius; BFI London Film Festival; Henie Onstad Triennial for Photography and New Media, Oslo; and
VO Curations, London. Her texts are an integral part of her practice, and have been published on e-flux,
The Funambulist, NERO and Spector Books, among others.
