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British Film Institute

Updated: Dec 1, 2022

The British Film Institute is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production distribution and education. It was founded in 1933, with its current chief executive being Ben Roberts.


At the time when the institute was founded it was a private company, though it had received public money throughout its history from the Privy Council and Treasury until 1965. The institute was restructured following the Radcliffe Report which recommended that it should concentrate on developing the appreciation of filmic art, rather than creating film itself. This resulted in a shift of control passed to the National Committee for Visual Aids in education, and the British Film Academy assumed control for promoting production.


The British Film Institute have produced films such as Aftersun, Triangle of Sadness, and The Feast. The film Aftersun, (released in 2022) won at the British Independent Film awards, winning Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Music Supervision. The film was directed by Charlotte Wells and scored $964,032 .


The website states that they have:





Increased the diversity of audiences and talent supported across all BFI activities

Increased engagement with BFI activities across the UK and increased the quality and cultural depth of their experience.

Increased participation of 16-30 year olds across all BFI activities and funded programmes

Increased access to the BFI’s National Film Archive and those of the regions and Nations.


To apply for funding from the Nation lottery you have to:

Applications must be made by the lead producer who is:

-a different person to the director and writer producing a project between £250,000 and £15,000,000

Along with the application, you should submit:

-the script

-an overall timeline for the project to include prep, shoot, post (with at least 10-12 weeks edit) --and a delivery date

-an industry standard production budget; for example, using Movie Magic

-an industry standard production schedule

-a proposed finance plan that matches the budget


The British Council film team is made up of in-house film industry experts, working together with selected freelance specialists, across genres and disciplines.




The BFI runs the BFI Southbank, (formerly the National Film Theatre) and the BFI IMAX cinema which are both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London. The IMAX has the largest cinema screen in the UK and shows popular recent releases and short films showcasing its technology.

This includes 3D screenings and 11,600 watts of digital surround sound. BFI Southbank (the National Film Theatre screens and the Studio) shows films from all over the world, predominantly critically acclaimed historical and specialised films that may not otherwise get a cinema showing. The BFI also distributes archival and cultural cinema to other venues each year to more than 800 venues all across the UK, as well as to a substantial number of overseas venues.

Additionally, the BFI runs the annual London Film Festival along with the London LGBT Film Festival and the youth-orientated Future Film Festival.


The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and shorts from approximately 50 countries.



Founded in 1933, the British Film Institute has staged a film festival every October since 1957. While 2020's edition was an online-only affair due to COVID, the film festival has since returned to its usual format.





Actors such as Aubrey Plaza and Jennifer Lawrence appeared at the festival this year to talk about the films they are most well know from (The Hunger Games, Emily the Criminal, etc).












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