Film Agency News
03 rd October 2012
Reaction to the publication of the BFI Film Forever forward plan
Statement attributable to Pauline Burt, Chief Executive of the Film Agency for Wales
“The Film Agency for Wales welcomes the BFI’s forward plan Film Forever with its commitment to education, talent and providing for audiences, which has to be at the heart of our efforts to develop a thriving and sustainable film business and culture both here in Wales and throughout the UK.
Six years in and we are well placed and attuned to help deliver these aspirations for Wales. Having established a network of education practitioners, we are already building an integrated offer providing teaching and resources across venues, communities and schools, including the pioneering Film in Afan project, which through the support of the BIG Lottery is enabling communities at the heart of Wales to up-skill for the digital economy. Additionally, after school FilmClubs are already set to reach 40% of schools in Wales by 2015. There’s a real appetite to reach all schools, improve participation and provide scale and efficiencies through the savvy use of networks, across both languages and making the most of a culture of storytelling.
Since our inception, we have worked closely with talent, supporting their creative, financial, and market acumen, with a focus on writers, directors, producers and indigenous companies. International engagement and breadth of offer is notable, with award winning features including Submarine, Sleep Furiously, Mugabe and the White African, Patagonia and Michael Sheen’s Gospel of Us in conjunction with National Theatre Wales. The Film Agency for Wales aims to enhance cross media and cross art-form collaboration and exploitation; and build upon business support, including high-level distributor-led mentoring for UK producers with confirmed support from Creative Skillset. We’re also committed to ensuring rigorous and systematic data collection and analysis provides a better understanding of how, when, why and what films people want to watch and their behaviour as consumers, to provide market knowledge back across the value chain and to assist in the further development of business models.
We’re looking forward to working in partnership with the BFI to ensure that the full benefits of the BFI offer are made available to and attuned to the specific needs of Wales, whilst also putting Wales to the fore where we can be innovative and fleet of foot to the benefit of those in Wales, elsewhere in the UK and beyond.
