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What we fund

We fund script development, film production, short films, film distribution and export, cinemas, film education, archives, festivals, audience support schemes, skills training and national and regional film agencies.

Grow Your Own - Behind The Scenes

Script development:

Script quality can make or break a film. Our Development Fund provides £4 million a year to support development of high quality, commercially viable screenplays. Funded screenplays include Brideshead Revisited and How to Lose Friends and Alienate People.

Film production:

We support production of British feature films through two funds.

The Premiere Fund provides £8 million a year to finance production of popular, mainstream films, for example Brideshead Revisited, St. Trinian's and Miss Potter.

The New Cinema Fund releases £5 million a year to innovative film-makers, helping to back movies like Red Road, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, This is England and London to Brighton.

Short films:

Short films can help new film-makers break into the mainstream. Our New Cinema Fund supports several short film schemes. Finance provided through the scheme has allowed Andrea Arnold (Wasp, Red Road), Duane Hopkins (Love Me or Leave Me, Better Things) and other directors to move from shorts to full features.

Film distribution and export:

We want to widen the choice of films shown at UK cinemas. Our Prints and Advertising Fund provides £4 million a year to support distribution of films that might otherwise not be shown widely, among them, The Curse of the Golden Flower, Volver and Tell No-One.

Our export funding helps to sell and finance the screening of British films around the world.

Cinema:

To help make 'going to the pictures' a even better experience we've invested in 240 digital cinema screens across the UK. We also provide improvement grants to independent cinemas.

Film education, culture and archives:

We promote knowledge about film through a range of funding schemes, including our Publications Fund, Archive Fund and First Light.

Festivals and audience support schemes:

Stimulating greater audience choice is one of our four key aims and supporting film festivals is a great way to do this. We also fund findanyfilm.com – one of the UK's leading websites for film fans looking to watch, buy, download or rent great films.

Skills:

Through Skillset, a specialising training and development initiative, we provide £6.5 million a year to support a national film skills and training strategy.

National and regional film:

We provide around £8 million a year to national and regional film bodies, supporting their efforts to build a clear film strategy and provide financial support for a wide range of film related activities.