Mumbai: The UK Film Council will be investing a total of £18 million over the next two years in the English regions to help them boost their local film industries and open up access for the public to their screen heritage.
This support will come from two pots of funding. A sum of £15.4 million will be allocated to the regions over the next two years (£7.7 million per year to the nine Regional Screen Agencies). Known as the Regional Investment Fund for England (RIFE), the money is a mixture of National Lottery and grant-in-aid funding.
The other is a £2.7 million Digital Archive Fund from lottery cash to help unlock the nation’s rich screen heritage. Each region will receive £300,000 over the next two years.
The RIFE money will enable the nine English Regional Screen Agencies to continue to deliver on their objectives of developing film economies and culture in their region including education initiatives, exhibition, locations support, production and development, as well as training and vocational education.
The Regional Screen Agencies (RSAs) were set up between 2002 and 2004 and to date have received more than £50m in Lottery and grant-in-aid funding from the UK Film Council. The agencies are EM Media, Film London, Northern Film and Media, Northwest Vision and Media, Screen East, Screen South, Screen West Midlands, Screen Yorkshire and South West Screen.
They are a strong asset and important partners for the UK Film Council in helping to deliver a number of key initiatives in areas such as education, exhibition, production, screen heritage and training. The RSAs are also strongly positioned to drive and promote diversity and access with very high levels of support going to projects and individuals from diverse backgrounds.
The agencies have been very successful at leveraging in money from other organizations, generating on average another £3 for every £1 of lottery money invested.
UK Film Council chief executive officer John Woodward said, "The UK Film Council invests money into the regions because they are a key asset for the British film Industry. The agencies bring together all the different parts of the film agenda at a local level, from locations support to film production and they have been a new and vital catalyst for bringing different and fresh stories to the big screen and showcasing regional talent with films like Control and This is England."
