The UK Film Council (UKFC) was set up in 2000 by the Labour Government as an agency to develop and promote the film industry in the UK. It is constituted as a private company limited by guarantee governed by a board of 15 directors and is funded through sources including The National Lottery.

Objectives

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In its own words, the aim of UKFC is:

To stimulate a competitive, successful and vibrant UK film industry and culture, and to promote the widest possible enjoyment and understanding of cinema throughout the nations and regions of the UK.

UKFC thus has a mandate that spans cultural- social- and economic-wealth building, three agendas that do not always point in the same direction.

Functions

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UKFC maintains a sizeable staff at its London offices who administer a range of different activities, including:

Film Funding

Arguably the most visible activity of UKFC and the largest single item in its budget is direct funding for feature film production and distribution. Inevitably for a business that involves both creative risk and large sums of public funding, UKFC's commissioning choices regularly attract criticism ( Lottery funds film failures)

Regional Investment Fund for England (RIFE)

The UKFC funds nine regional screen agencies which deliver the Council's activities within each English region.

Funding for linked bodies

The UKFC also funds the British Film Institute (although this body remains independently governed) and the British Film Commission, which is intended to attract foreign investment into the UK film making business.

Funding to promote the uptake of digital cinema

In 2005 the UK Film Council awarded a £11.5 million ^* contract to Arts Alliance Digital Cinema to fund the provision of 250 digitally projected screens across the country. The intention is that this will make it easier to show British films in the UK as the distribution will be through electronic means rather than the transfer of physical film reels.

Advocacy

The UKFC also acts as an advocacy body for the country’s film industry, and in 2004 criticised the BBC for not having done enough for UK film making. ^* Notable achievements in terms of UKFC's advocacy role include the negotiation of tax breaks for Film Producers.

External links

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• UK Film Council website

Distribution

The UKFC helps to distribute films throughout the UK and throughout the international film community. It has three ways in which this is done;

1. Combined Distribution 2. Limited Distribution 3. Wide Distribution

Cinema of the United Kingdom | Film organizations | Organisations based in the United Kingdom