3XF Films · Cinematic documentary storytelling for business
3XF Films is the production company of award-winning writer-director Benjamin Barfoot. Twelve years making BBC documentaries, now bringing that cinematic storytelling to founders and tech companies with something new to show the world.
Films made for
For founders
Every founder remembers the moment it clicked. The late nights, the first version that only half worked, the people who said it couldn't be done. Then one day it did.
That's the film. We find the human heart of what you've made and give it the scale it deserves, so investors, customers and the people you want to hire feel what you feel about it.
Our work
From a £300m stock market listing to the BBC's flagship technology films. Some serious, some very funny. Click any film to watch it and find out more.
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The Beauty Tech Group, the company behind CurrentBody, listed on the London Stock Exchange in one of 2025's biggest London IPOs. This film told their story, the people, the products and the culture behind the brand, and played on the Exchange itself as part of its coverage of the companies about to list.
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A documentary made with Vice and its agency Virtue for Mazda's “Rebels With A Cause” series, profiling people driven by ideas in technology. It follows Phil Ross, a San Francisco artist turned founder of MycoWorks, who found a way to grow new materials from mycelium, and believes the same process could one day build anything from everyday compounds to space rockets and robots.
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Made for BBC News, an explainer on how a neural network learns. It starts with medical students learning to spot abnormalities in breast cancer scans the way people learn almost anything: look at case after case, make a call, get corrected, and let the brain slowly tune itself to the pattern. The film then shows that an artificial neural network learns in much the same way. Shown thousands of labelled scans, it makes a guess, checks it against the right answer and adjusts its connections a little each time. The same practice and repetition, just across far more scans than a trainee doctor would see in years.
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Made for BBC Panorama, the BBC's flagship investigation strand, to explain how the 5G network is being rolled out, and what it means once phones, cars, appliances and countless other systems can talk to each other at far higher speed.
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Made for the BBC, built around an interview with the film director James Cameron on the risk that photoreal visual effects, the same kind used to make Avatar, could one day be impossible to tell from reality and used to spread convincing misinformation. The film stages the idea inside a wall of old television sets, moving between old and new technology to visualise where that thinking leads.
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Made for the BBC, a fast, funny look inside the shadow trade of PS5 scalping. During the pandemic's chip shortage, bots swept consoles off the shelves the second they landed and sold them on at triple the price. The film follows a journalist unpacking how the racket actually works.
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Made for the Royal Television Society, the opening film for its awards ceremony. It traces the entire journey of human communication, from Victorian Morse code to the 5G network now sitting in every pocket.
What we make
The kind of documentary people choose to watch on a Friday night, made about your business. Serious when it needs to be, funny when it can be.
The story behind the business, told by the person who built it. The film every investor, customer and future hire sees first.
A product reveal with the weight of a film premiere. Made to be watched on a big stage and shared on a small screen.
Premium storytelling for your brand at its highest level. Shot like cinema, with the craft to match.
When the market is watching, the story has to be clear and confident. We've made one for a £300m float.
Twelve years of BBC technology and current affairs films taught us how to make complicated things simple without dumbing them down.
How we work
A clear plan up front, so you always know what's coming next.
You tell us what you've built and why it matters. We find the story inside it.
A clear treatment and plan, so you know exactly what you're getting before a camera rolls.
Cinema kit, and for bigger films the cinematographers and crews Benjamin makes his feature films with. Calm on set, so your team can be themselves.
Edit, grade, sound and music, plus cut-downs for every channel you need.
What it costs
Every film is made to measure, so these are starting points, not a menu. Explainers and investor films are priced as one of these three, depending on length. Most 3XF films land between £8,000 and £25,000.
From£8,000
A 60 to 90 second film that shows what you've built and why it matters now. Made for a funding round, a launch or a big hire.
From£14,500
Three to four minutes on why your company exists, told by the people who built it. The film investors, customers and future hires see first.
From£30,000
The big one. A cinematic film with a full crew, locations and an original score, made to carry your brand for years.
Prices exclude VAT. Travel and overnight stays are charged at cost. After our first call you get a fixed quote within 48 hours, so there are no surprises later.
Ask about your film
WinnerBest International Feature, Strasbourg
LonglistedBest Debut Director, BIFA
FinalistBroadcast Young Talent Awards
About
Benjamin is an award-winning writer-director with 25 years behind the camera, represented by Curtis Brown in London and Anonymous Content in Los Angeles.
He started young. A music video he made at college got him hired as a professional cameraman and editor at 20, and he was soon signed with Soho Editors in London, cutting ads and movie trailers and blending live action with graphics and animation. His first short film, Signature, caught a judge's eye and made him a finalist in the Broadcast Young Talent Awards. Before long his short films had the attention of UK film producers and the BBC at the same time.
His first feature, Double Date, won Best International Feature at the Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival, was longlisted for Best Debut Director at the British Independent Film Awards, and went on to a nationwide UK cinema release and Prime Video. His second, Daddy's Head, is a Shudder original for AMC Networks, named by The New York Times as one of its top three Halloween films.
Since 2014 he has made documentaries for the BBC, from Click, its flagship technology programme, to Panorama and current affairs, alongside some of the country's leading investigative and technology journalists. He has also made brand documentaries with Vice and Virtue.
He started 3XF Films to bring that cinema craft to the people building the future, and to tell their stories properly.
"I've been like this since I was a kid. Always curious, always telling stories, always trying to figure out how things work."Benjamin Barfoot
He travelled the world filming technology, current affairs, food and culture wherever the story was happening. Most days there was no script. He'd land somewhere new, listen hard, and find the story in the room, often editing it in his head while he was still shooting.
That's what you get on your shoot. Someone who understands your world quickly, sees the story your team are too close to see, and captures it without taking over your day.
On BBC News, around the world
BBC AI correspondent Marc Cieslak brought him into a BBC News studio to road test the latest AI filmmaking tools against his experience as a feature film director. With one simple camera, Benjamin filmed Marc in the studio, then rebuilt the world around him, dropping him onto a snowy mountainside as a volcano erupts behind him.
Then Marc sat him down to talk about what it all means for film. The piece ran on BBC One's One O'Clock and Six O'Clock News, and on BBC News around the world.
So your film gets someone who knows exactly what the new tools can do, and has the judgement to use them well.
What clients say
"I think Ben is an incredibly versatile director. He's one of those rare, multi-talented individuals who is a very technically minded person, very meticulous, very well prepared, knows exactly what he wants and knows how to get it and works very well within a budget."Matthew James Wilkinson, Stigma Films
Make your film
Tell us about what you've built, and we'll show you the film inside it. Benjamin reads every message himself and replies within one working day. Based in Manchester, filming across the UK and beyond.
He'll reply within one working day. While you wait,
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