MUMBAI: Film director Beeban Kidron and educationist Lindsay Mackie have joined forces to launch Film Club, an initiative that aims to bring the world of film into 10,000 primary and secondary schools across Britain.

The club will offer school children the chance browse www.filmclub.org and access hundreds of recommended titles which include mainstream blockbusters such as Pirates of the Caribbean and specialised and foreign language films such as Cinema Paradiso.  All the films have been grouped into specially devised seasons and engaging themes to help guide the teachers through the vast array of titles, says an official release.

Film Club, currently in its pilot phase, is funded and supported by the UK Film Council, the BFI, LOVEFiLM, Film Education, All Industry Marketing (AIM), Film Bank / PVSL and Film Distributors Association.

The website enables teachers and pupils to not only to order films, but also write reviews and rate movies, as well as access information about what’s on at their local cinema. Nick Hornby has put together a season of his top five comedy films and will  answer questions online and in schools. Comedy writer Lee Hall is running a competition for children for their best ‘film season’. Renee Zellweger has written exclusively for the website about a film that meant a lot to her as a young girl growing up. 

Celebrities like Rosamund Pike, Saffron Burrows, Stephen Frears, Daniel Craig, Alan Parker, Simon Pegg, John Hurt, Nick Park, Joseph Fiennes, Daniel Radcliffe, Jo Wright, Jason Isaacs and Sienna Miller have agreed to visit schools during the pilot phase and participating schools can request a visit via the website, the release adds.
 
Film Club will run until the end of the spring term in 25 schools across Yorkshire, London, Kent , Surrey and Northern Ireland.  If the pilot proves popular and funding is secured, a further 10,000 schools will be incorporated in the next phase.