BFI National Film Centre

BFI National Film Centre gets the green light
 
DCMS pledges £45 million capital spend
 
* Everyone in Britain to benefit from new centre for film
* Visionary new digital hub you can plug into from home
 
The BFI announces today that it is proceeding with its
plan to build a visionary new film centre on London's South
Bank. The decision to move forward comes as the Culture
Secretary, Ben Bradshaw, announced a £45 million capital
investment from Government in the project.
 
The BFI¹s ambition is to create a world-leading centre for
the study, enjoyment and celebration of film and television.
The money pledged from Government follows an earlier
investment promise of £5 million in the project from the
London Mayor through the LDA. It secures the next phase of
the project which is to design and planning, and will go
towards helping fund the construction of the new centre
which is to be developed on the site of Hungerford car park.
 
Amanda Nevill, director of the BFI, said:
 
"This is hugely exciting news for film culture in Britain, for
the whole of the British film industry and a positive turning
point in the history of the BFI. Film is one of the greatest art
forms of today and universally popular. It is also a British
success story - London and the UK are at the centre of
the global film industry.
 
We will be creating something that doesn't exist anywhere
else in the world, precisely because we can. It will build on
the BFI's 75 year legacy, bringing together the greatest
collections of film on earth with all the excitement and
stimulation of emerging cinema into the most creative and
inclusive programmes. It will be a digital hub, working with
partners across the UK to share and exchange those
programmes. We are a step closer in our ambition to inspire
and excite audiences everywhere in a new digital
Britain."
 
John Woodward, chief executive of the UK Film Council which
funds the BFI, said:
 
"This is a key milestone on the road towards the UK Film
Council and the BFI's shared objective of transforming the
cultural film offering to UK citizens in the digital age.
Not only will film now have a fitting home on the best arts
campus in the world, but the development will use digital to
open up the archive and all the other film treasures that the
BFI holds for the benefit of everyone in the UK."