BFI
What The BFI Does
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film making and television in the United Kingdom.
It was established by Royal Charter to:
- Encourage the development of the arts of film, television and the moving image throughout the United Kingdom, to promote their use as a record of contemporary life and manners, to promote education about film, television and the moving image generally, and their impact on society, to promote access to and appreciation of the widest possible range of British and world cinema and to establish, care for and develop collections reflecting the moving image history and heritage of the United Kingdom.
Archive
The BFI maintains the world's largest film archive, the BFI National Archive, previously called National Film Library (1935–1955), National Film Archive (1955–1992) and National Film and Television Archive (1993–2006). The archive contains more than 50,000 fiction films, over 100,000 non-fiction titles and around 625,000 television programmes. The majority of the collection is British material but it also features internationally significant holdings from around the world. The Archive also collects films which feature key British actors and the work of British directors.
Education
The BFI offers a range of education initiatives, in particular to support the teaching of film and media studies in schools. In late 2012, the BFI received money from the UK Department For Education to create the BFI Film Academy Network.
Festivals
The BFI runs the annual London Film Festival along with BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival and the youth-orientated Future Film Festival.
Other activities
The BFI publishes the monthly Sight & Sound magazine as well as films on Blu-ray, DVD and books. It runs the BFI National Library (a reference library), and maintains the BFI Film & TV Database and Summary of Information on Film and Television (SIFT), which are databases of credits, synopses and other information about film and television productions. SIFT has a collection of about 7 million still frames from film and television.
Useful BFI Resources
- BFI Neighbourhood Cinema - A run through of setting up a venue and potential costs
- BFI Community Cinema Budget Template - A good first step to assessing your setup and ongoing costs.