Creative England awards almost £470,000 in Lottery support to regional venues, festivals and archives.

Creative England has awarded almost £470,000 in its first round of Film Culture Fund Lottery awards, investing in a diverse range of film culture projects across the English regions.

Creative England’s awards support work in venues, festivals, archives and rural and community cinema schemes. These are the first awards made by the new agency, launched in October 2011, a BFI delegated body for the distribution of National Lottery funds for film in the English Regions.

From Berwick to Plymouth, 39 projects are sharing a total of £465,972 in this first round of Film Culture funding. Among the many festivals supported are Sheffield DocFest, the Encounters International Film Festival in Bristol and Borderlines Film Festival in Herefordshire and Shropshire.

I am confident we are backing the right spread of projects across the country with these awards.

Archive awards will help develop screen heritage activity in the North East, Yorkshire, Midlands and the South West. Awards developing and enriching cinema programming have been made to urban and rural projects in Barrow in Furness, Cambridge, Ludlow, York, Manchester, Swindon, Sunderland and Dartington.

Creative England CEO Caroline Norbury said: “It is a great reflection of the vitality of film in England that we received so many strong applications to this first round of Lottery awards. While we had to make some tough decisions, I am confident we are backing the right spread of projects across the country with these awards, which will benefit each of these organisations and the audiences they serve.”

Case studies

Bradford International Film Festival (BIFF): awarded £12,000
Bradford International Film Festival has presented hundreds of new and classic films over its 17 editions, and included premieres, definitive retrospectives, and an array of special guests. BIFF includes the Shine Short Film Award, which highlights new works by short film directors. The 2012 festival will also feature a competition for European feature films. The festival is hosted at The National Media Museum and several satellite venues in and around Bradford. The National Media Museum’s unique facility allows BIFF to present films in a huge array of digital and celluloid film formats. BIFF represents cinema in a great variety of forms, genres and formats, and selects many new independent films from around the world that are exclusive to the festival.

Creative England funding will help towards the running of this year’s festival and its continued success.

The Dartington Hall Trust, Devon: awarded £10,000
This pioneering charity is a place of experimentation, enterprise and education, where the arts, social justice and sustainability come together. Based near Totnes in South Devon, The Trust occupies a 1200 acre estate which was bought in the 1920s by Dorothy and Leonard Elmhirst as the base for an experiment in rural regeneration. The Barn Cinema is an independent cinema situated in a renovated 14th century barn, within the grounds of the Dartington Hall estate near Totnes. The Barn runs a wide-ranging film programme, including independent arthouse, world and mainstream cinema, seven days a week.

Creative England funding will contribute towards the hosting of the annual SHOOT Short Film Festival in November which will feature some of the very best short films from the West Country’s new generation of filmmakers.

Cinecity, Brighton Film Festival: awarded £25,000
Cinecity takes place at the Duke of York’s Picturehouse in Brighton and at other venues around the city in a programme over three weeks featuring the best in international cinema. There are premieres and previews, artists’ cinema and installations, treasures from the archive, retrospectives, free education screenings and events, talks and debates. Cinecity’s aim is to develop film culture in Brighton & Hove and the neighbouring areas in East and West Sussex by offering audiences a diverse range of film and artists’ moving image work; encouraging discussion; providing a platform for local and regional film-makers; and networking opportunities to enhance creative development. The Brighton Film Festival takes place in November and December, and Cinecity curates film and moving image programmes throughout the year.

Canterbury Anifest: awarded £5,000
Canterbury Anifest is the South East’s only annual animation festival. It’s a community event with a range of workshops, young people awards and family-friendly events. Anifest also caters for specialists and those in the industry, featuring national and international awards, and guest speakers from some of the biggest names in animation. Situated in the historic city of Canterbury, the festival is surrounded by the legacy of Smallfilms animation studio (Bagpuss, The Clangers, etc).

The rest of the awards in full

Abandon Normal Devices Festival, Manchester – www.andfestival.org.uk
Annual festival, plus year-round screenings, focused on new cinema, digital culture and new ways of experiencing film and media.
Awarded: £10,000

Aesthetica Short Film Festival, York – www.asff.co.uk
Short film festival held in multiple venues across York city centre, organised by Aesthetica magazine.
Awarded: £6,500

Afrika Eye Film Festival, Bristol – www.afrikaeye2010.blogspot.com
Festival of African film, stimulating production in the BME communities and organising educational and discussions about African cinema.
Awarded: £5,000

Armadillo Youth Venue and Café, Yate – www.yatearmadillo.co.uk
A new community cinema facility in Yate, South Gloucestershire, set up to extend the opportunity to view films to a wide range of people in Yate and surrounding rural areas.
Awarded: £5,000

Arts Alive: Flicks in the Sticks – www.artsalive.co.uk
A network of 95 rural village venues across Shropshire, Herefordshire and neighbouring counties screening over 650 films across 2000 square miles.
Awarded: £15,000

AV Festival – www.avfestival.co.uk
International festival of film, music and art, based in the North East in March 2012, including major exhibitions, over 50 film screenings and music events, weekend walks and an online radio station.
Awarded: £10,000

Movies on the Move, Bath Film Festival – www.bathfilmfestival.org.uk
A new scheme to show films in rural communities in Bath and North East Somerset, targeting a wide age range of new audiences, extending the impact of Bath Film Festival.
Awarded: £5,000

Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival – www.berwickfilm-artsfest.com
Annual celebration of the art of film in Berwick-upon-Tweed, showcasing features, short films, moving image installations and new commissions, in various non-cinema locations.
Awarded: £10,000

Blaize / Cine Yorkshire – www.blaize.uk.net / www.cineyorkshire.co.uk
Rural touring cinema project working in village halls and community venues across North Yorkshire and East Riding of Yorkshire.
Awarded: £15,000

Borderlines Film Festival – www.borderlinesfilmfestival.co.uk
An exciting new audience development and film education project taking place in Herefordshire’s rural heartland in May 2012, bringing outdoor screenings to Herefordshire for the first time.
Awarded:£9,500

Bristol Encounters International Film Festival – www.encounters-festival.org.uk
Annual six-day short film and animation Festival now in its 18th year that inspires, showcases and celebrates talent in the creative industries across film, animation and the moving image.
Awarded: £25,000

British Silent Film Festival – www.britishsilents.co.uk/silent
Bringing a wealth of cinematic treasures back to contemporary audiences, presenting them with live music in entertaining and accessible ways, from solo piano to full orchestral performances.
Awarded: £7,500

Cambridgeshire Film Consortium -www.cambridgeshirefilmconsortium.org
Supports audience development for critical and cultural understanding of films, delivering high quality, culturally-diverse film education events
Awarded:£18,800

Carousel – www.oskabright.co.uk
A touring collection of 100 short films made by learning disabled film-makers from across the world from the Oska Bright archives, presenting 48 screenings at 12 film events across 6 English regions.
Awarded:£10,000

Cinema Plus – www.cinemaplus.org.uk
Film education activities for all age groups, building audiences for specialist film and screen heritage, improving access to quality film education for all, including disadvantaged and under-served groups.
Awarded: £16,125

Cornerhouse – www.cornerhouse.org
12-month programme of festival and specialised film activity adding new elements to the Cornerhouse’s core cinema programme.
Awarded: £20,000

Curzon Community Cinema – www.curzon.org.uk
Film and education project for children and adults increasing access to non-mainstream film.
Awarded: £2,448

Filming East Festival – www.filmingeast.org
Bringing oriental films to audiences with less access to these films, educating UK audiences on Chinese culture by offering introduced screenings, illustrated talks and special events.
Awarded: £2,000

The Global Village Film Festival – www.poundarts.org.uk/festival/film.aspx
A programme of world cinema at The Pound Arts Centre in Corsham and in three villages in the surrounding area.
Awarded: £3,000

Keswick Film Festival – www.keswickfilmclub.org/kff
Keswick Film Festival runs a year round film club and a 4 day festival in February. This award will support the 2012 festival to bring international film titles to Keswick.
Awarded:£4,600

Leicester Arts Centre – www.phoenix.org.uk
Providing access to cinema in areas where no cinema provision exists already, building audience demand for cinema product and increases community cohesion by working with local promoters and community volunteer partners
Awarded: £12,000

Light House Media Centre – www.light-house.co.uk
Ongoing audience development for film education activity and an established programme including hosting international festivals.
Awarded: £10,000

Ludlow Assembly Rooms – www.ludlowassemblyrooms.co.uk
Maintaining and developing access to the whole spectrum of film for a local rural audience by consolidating activities previously successful as voluntary efforts and binding core film enthusiasts into a film club.
Awarded: £5,000

Media Archive for Central England – www.macearchive.org
Creating a new and proactive approach to online presentation to develop new audiences actively engaging with the archive content, and to create new income streams increasing sustainability.
Awarded: £18,000

Northern Region Film & Television Archive – www.nrfta.org.uk
Showcasing sporting stories and achievements of the people of the North East, presenting archive programmes in new spaces including major sporting arenas.
Awarded: £9,000

The Ritz Cinema, French Film Festival – www.ritz-belper.co.uk
A ten-day festival in June 2012 featuring a wide variety of French films – specialised, mainstream, classic, documentary and shorts by emerging film-makers.
Awarded: £3,000

The Rural Media Company – www.ruralmedia.co.uk
Strengthening the regional and national film talent pool, and to redress the lack of information and networking opportunities for rural filmmakers and companies.
Awarded: £26,799

Sheffield Doc/Fest – www.sheffdocfest.com
Drawing mass audiences to large-scale outdoor screenings, offering opportunities for participatory activities for all, celebrating documentary film culture in all its forms in various locations across Sheffield.
Awarded: £40,000

Sheffield Media & Exhibition Centre – www.showroomworkstation.org.uk
Promoting diversity in programming through various focuses and subjects, unreleased new films, older rarely seen films, lectures and debates, and inform an academic research programme.
Awarded: £8,000

Signal Films – www.signalfilms.co.uk
Offering a programme of specialised and mainstream film events to residents in Barrow and the surrounding areas for the first time.
Awarded: £4,000

South West Film & Television Archive – www.swfta.org.uk
Short term developmental funding to reshape the focus and purpose of the archive to increase access longer term and develop a viable operational model.
Awarded: £21,000

Sunderland Live Big Screens Festival – www.sunderlandevents.co.uk
Big screen presentations offering showcase of feature films, local and regional short films and film footage celebrating Sunderland’s heritage.
Awarded: £5,000

Swindon Film Festival – www.swindonfilm.co.uk
The 2012 festival will deliver an eclectic programme of around 20 films over a 10-day period at a number of venues in Swindon and nearby towns and villages.