Hot on the heels of the successes of previous participants including BAFTA nominee Kajaki: The True Story and internationally acclaimed Appropriate Behaviour, 11 new teams are about to start their Build Your Audience journey, crafting the perfect release and marketing strategy for their feature films.

Funded by Creative Skillset and supported by VOD platform We Are Colony, our Build Your Audience training gives filmmakers an overview of the modern distribution landscape through workshops from industry experts and dedicated mentoring.

• Learn more about Build Your Audience

What participants can expect

The four-month programme will continue until July 2015 and consist of three two-day workshops, one International Focus day workshop and two final pitch days.

Kicking off this week, this year's Build Your Audience starts out with sessions exploring traditional sales and the changing digital landscape, including:

• A look at the UK theatrical marketplace and other opportunities for distribution with Ed Fletcher, Managing Director of Soda Pictures
• The identification of potential campaigns and the preparation of final marketing materials with seasoned film marketing consultant Andrew Woodyatt
• An introduction to the role of the sales agent, with advice on how to pitch and package with Jeremy Baxter, Head of Acquisitions and Development at Pinewood Studios
• Understanding audiences and audience trends with Pete Buckingham, co-founder of SampoMedia
• Seeing how distributors and sales agents position a film within the market place with Martin Hearn, Head of Marketing at Coffee & Cigarettes

Throughout the training, a focus is placed on sourcing and maximising audiences, navigating the festival and awards circuit, and negotiating the impact of new digital technologies on the traditional routes of distribution and marketing.

The participating projects

28 filmmakers have been chosen to take part in Build Your Audience. Together, they represent a diverse range of experience and genre. These 11 projects can't help but spark the imagination.

Death of a Gentleman
Sam Collins, Matt Hird
The story of two young cricket journalists who join forces to save the game they love, only to stumble on what could be the biggest scandal to hit any sport ever. It's a story about greed, about power, about the endless pursuit of more and the precious things that are lost along the way. 

God's Own Country
Francis Lee, Jack Tarling, Manon Ardisson
A love story set against the backdrop of lambing season on an isolated Yorkshire farm.

Hector
Jake Gavin, Stephen Malit
The heartwarming story of an enigmatic man who, after many years of aimless wandering, is confronted by his own mortality and is moved to reconnect with his long-buried previous life.

Infidelity
Anya Camilleri, Gerry Maguire
A couple wake up in bed next to each other, but they are married to other people.

Lady Macbeth
William Oldroyd, Alice Birch, Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly
A thrilling 19th Century tragedy; trapped in a loveless marriage of convenience, a young woman fights to protect a fierce and irrepressible new passion.

Made You Look
Anthony Peters, Paul O'Connor, David Waterson
Exploring creativity in the digital age via candid interviews with 17 leading figures in the UK's thriving graphic arts scene. So much art is now created and viewed at the click of a mouse, so why do traditional, handmade methods and tactile objects retain an enduring importance in our lives?

One Crazy Thing
Amit Gupta, Dean Fisher
Jay is a former daytime TV star whose life has hit rock bottom until he meets his dream girl. There's just one problem. How does Jay tell the girl about the leaked sex tape which made him an internet sensation?

Panic
Sean Spencer, Joe Wihl, Oliver Gray, Nuala O'Leary
The story of one man's obsessive quest for redemption in contemporary London. Haunted by a recent trauma, Deeley must confront his deepest fears when the woman he is infatuated with is kidnapped.

Punch
Ruth Ivo, Rachel Wardlow
The story of Cass, a violent young stripper living under the Westway motorway whose life is on the ropes until she steps into the boxing ring.

Tiger Raid
Gareth Coulam Evans, Simon Dixon
Two mercenaries ride a wave of pitch black camaraderie as they travel through the desert night on their way to carry out a kidnapping in Iraq. As the raid progresses, their frenzied world turns in on itself as past misdeeds come to the surface, violently tearing their world apart.

Uncle Howard
Paula Vaccaro, Aaron Brookner, Agustina Figueras
An intertwining tale of past and present, the story of filmmaker Howard Brookner whose work captured the late 70's and early 80's cultural revolution in NYC--and his nephew's personal journey 25 years later to search for his uncle's films and the legacy of a life cut short by the plague of AIDS.

@DMolonyForum no problem,I hope you guys will be happy with it! ps: Score is finished,final mix next week!

— Dean Valentine (@DeanValentine_) May 2, 2015

@DMolonyForum @damienmolony @smatalent Tiger Raid score completed folks!

— Dean Valentine (@DeanValentine_) May 13, 2015

@DMolonyForum Here you go! pic.twitter.com/GcTmsRzMi2

— DixonBaxi (@DixonBaxi) May 13, 2015

@DMolonyForum @DixonBaxi we're nearly there,standby! D

— Dean Valentine (@DeanValentine_) May 14, 2015