Massive boost for UK's film festivals
The UK Film Council is helping British film festivals to raise their profile and their ambition with a huge Lottery cash injection of £740,000 over the next three years.
London – 16 June 2008. The UK Film Council is helping British film festivals to raise their profile and their ambition with a huge Lottery cash injection of £740,000 over the next three years.
The funding from the UK Film Council's Film Festivals Fund (national strand) will give thousands more people the opportunity to enjoy more films, learn about film and meet filmmakers. The cash boost will also help to raise the profile of British film at home and abroad and contribute to the development of a more competitive UK film industry.
The festivals to benefit from this funding over the next three years cover a range of geographical areas and genres including children's films, animation, documentaries, silent movies, avant-garde, disability and films for and about women. They are:
- Cinemagic World Screen Film and Television Festival for Young People - £150,000 over the next three years – based in Belfast, the festival will expand into Scotland, Wales, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Sheffield and Bristol. Their vision is to be recognised as the leading children's film festival in the world.
- Birds Eye View Film Festival - £175,000 over the next three years – the vision is to be internationally recognised as the leading platform for celebrating and showcasing the best of women's filmmaking. As well as London, the festival will focus on Glasgow, Manchester and Newcastle before expanding nationally.
- Sheffield International Documentary Festival (Sheffield Doc/Fest) - £175,000 over the next three years - showcases documentary films from Britain and the world and is the world's biggest annual gathering of UK documentary makers. The festival also houses an innovative and effective marketplace. Doc/Fest aims to be the leading festival for innovation in Europe by 2010 and will develop live link ups with other UK regions.
- British Silent Film Festival - £70,000 over the next three years – this festival's ambition is to become the UK's international showcase for the best in pre-1930s world cinema. Events will include screenings at National Trust sites.
- Flatpack Festival - £70,000 over the next three years – a Birmingham-based festival using alternative venues such as churches, warehouses and shopping centres, as well as cinemas and gallery spaces. Eclectic programme of shorts, animation and live film events aimed at a young audience.
- Deaffest - £50,000 over the next three years – films made by the Deaf and hearing impaired and based in various venues including Wolverhampton. Their aim is to be the pre-eminent annual festival in the UK celebrating world-wide Deaf media production and showcasing it to both Deaf and hearing audiences.
- The London International Animation Festival – £50,000 over the next three years – animation showcase run in partnership with the Film and Video Workshop, it will expand city by city. The festival's ambition is to be the UK's premier showcase for independent animation.
£1.88 million over the next three years has already been allocated to the Edinburgh International Film festival from the UK Film Council's Film Festivals Fund (international strand). Edinburgh, which kicks off later this week, has a great track record in discovering, showcasing and promoting talent. Thanks to the additional Lottery funding, it will be able to make some radical new changes including development programmes for up and coming film talent and more events for the public as it works towards its goal of becoming the "must attend" festival of discovery. The Edinburgh film festival runs from 18-29 June.
John Woodward, Chief Executive Officer of the UK Film Council said: "People love film and festivals give people of all ages and backgrounds the opportunity to immerse themselves in a huge array of exciting and powerful films. This funding will provide a huge step up for these festivals which have major plans to reach out to thousands more people and raise their profile significantly."
In addition, £10,000 will be spent on running supporting activity to facilitate learning, sharing and initiative-building between festivals. The allocation of the remaining £1.88 million from the film festivals pot (international strand) will be announced in due course.
More than 40 applications were received for the film festivals national strand totalling over £3,479,158.
Research by the UK Film Council points to a large, fast moving and diverse number of film festivals. Around 80 festivals a year receive public funding from National and Regional Screen Agencies and the UK Film Council, totalling around £900,000.
The Film Festival Fund of £1.5 million is additional to this and is not meant to substitute any existing support.
For further information please contact:
Caroline Nagle / Rachel Grant
UK Film Council Press Office
T: 44 (0)20 7861 7508 /7505
Notes to Editors
1. The UK-wide Film Festival Fund mission statement is: 'To ensure that by 2012 audiences across the UK have access to a wide variety of film festivals which maximise audience choice and provide opportunities for learning, and that collectively these festivals contribute to the development of a more competitive UK film industry at home and overseas.'
2. All applications to the fund went through a rigorous assessment process with independent advisers and an industry assessment board.
3. The UK Film Council is the Government-backed strategic agency for film in the UK. We aim to stimulate a successful, vibrant film industry and to promote the widest possible enjoyment and understanding of cinema throughout the UK.
We invest Government grant-in-aid and Lottery money in developing new filmmakers, in funding exciting new British films and in getting a wider choice of films to audiences throughout the UK. We also invest in training, promoting Britain as an international filmmaking location and in raising the profile of British films abroad. We aim to deliver lasting benefits to the industry and the public through:
· creativity - encouraging the development of new talent, skills, and creative and technological innovation in UK film and assisting new and established filmmakers to produce successful and distinctive British films;
· enterprise – supporting the creation and growth of sustainable businesses in the film sector, providing access to finance and helping the UK film industry compete successfully in the domestic and global marketplace;
· imagination - promoting education and an appreciation and enjoyment of cinema by giving UK audiences access to the widest range of UK and international cinema, and by supporting film culture and heritage.
