The British Film Institute (bfi)announced on Tuesday that a significantly refurbished and improved venue on theSouth Bank will open in Autumn 2006, intime for the Times bfi50th London Film Festival..

Work starts at the beginning of January 2006 to revitalisethe existing National Film Theatre (NFT) building and to transform the spaceonce occupied by the Museum of the Moving Image.

Amanda Nevill, Director of theBritish Film Institute, said:

"This development is an important step forward in testingour vision for a national landmark building for the celebration of film. It isa rehearsal room where audiences will be able to not just enjoy world cinema inthe NFT, but actively join the debate, engage with film-makers and artists, andaccess the National Film and Television Archive as never before."

The refurbished venue will offer, small groups and individuals opportunities to choose and watch their ownselection of materials through purpose-built viewing stations - the Mediatheque. Visitors will also be able to access a largenumber of films and programmes from the bfi'sNational Film and Television Archive, which currently includes over 50,000fiction titles, 100,000 non-fiction titles and 575,000 television titles.

Other improvements include an informal walk-in Studiocinema, presenting a continuous digital programme of archive and contemporaryfilms, television, talks and educational events. Work is due to begin on amajor programme of digitisation of film, television and newsreel footage fromthe Archive to be shown in the Studio and online due to a grant from theHeritage Lottery Fund.

One of the major changes to the existing venue will be therelocation of the main entrance and box office to the east side of the building(opposite the National Theatre).