“It is what you hope for with all of your films that you make, that it might be an outcome, but you don’t ever think it will…”
Left to right: Max Lovell, Lucy Meer, Mo’min Swaitat, Hollie Bryan, Jack King, Robbie Bryant, Tudor Cucu-Dumitrescu(Image: Edinburgh International Film Festival)
A film producer from Hull was “shocked” when a film she helped create was nominated for a BAFTA. The Ceremony, a drama filmed on the windswept Yorkshire Dales, was announced in the shortlist for the category Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer.
If the film wins, Lucy Meer would share the BAFTA with fellow producer Hollie Bryan from Grimsby and writer and director Jack King from Bradford. The nomination alone is an incredible achievement for an independent feature filmed over just 12 days on a micro budget.
Lucy, 34, said: “It was a massive surprise, really. I didn’t expect it would be longlisted, so when I saw that initially, I thought, ‘Oh that’s nice, but we won’t get nominated’, seeing the films we were up against.
“It is crazy, really. It is what you hope for with all of your films that you make, that it might be an outcome, but you don’t ever think it will… It is just a bit mental.”
When Lucy received the incredible news, her seven-month-old son was poorly so she was caught between “celebrating, being covered in sick, and then trying to be happy, and also covered in sick”.
She said it was a hectic time, but the news “brightened up” an otherwise stressful day.
When Lucy was on location during the filming of The Ceremony in the bitterly cold January of 2023, her older daughter, then aged two months, was in tow. She said: “I have specific memories of rivers breaking their banks, hailstones, tents flying over, it was pretty extreme, really.”
Lucy started her career in film while a student of Film & Media at The University of Hull. “I was a trainee on a feature film when I was a student and I was a producer’s assistant,” she said.
“She kept me on with her company where I got to do a lot of development and production. From there, I had jobs with different companies and then I started my own company and it has all gone from there, really. It was just that one, first chance when I was a student.”
Lucy added she was pleased actor Rob Aramayo from Hull had been nominated for both the Best Actor and Rising Star BAFTA. “There is a bit of a Hull rep going on at the BAFTAs this year which is quite nice,” she said.
The Ceremony has now been released on all major digital platforms, including Amazon Prime, Apple TV, BFI Player, and YouTube. The 2026 BAFTAs will be held on Sunday, February 22.