British Film Institute (BFI) allocates 900 places for 16-19 year olds to join BFI Film Academies.

The BFI has brought its Film Academy back for a second year and will offer almost twice as many young people the opportunity to develop skills for a career in film.

Covering the 2013/14 school year, it will extend its reach across the UK into Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales offering a total of 900 places across all courses – up from just under 500 in 2012 - working with 35 partners such as film training organisations and universities (see below for full list).

The BFI Film Academy scheme will also expand to include new residential courses in animation, documentary, screenwriting and VFX, and has appointed five organisations to lead these during half-term times.

It will again team with the National Film and Television School (NFTS), which recently became the first to win all three CILECT awards for the world’s best student films.

The NFTS will deliver a two-week residential craft skills course during the 2014 Easter break for up to 70 young people, featuring masterclasses from leading film industry figures and offering students practical experience of using high-tech, industry-standard equipment.

BFI CEO Amanada Nevill said the Film Academy was at the centre of its “comprehensive strategy to give young people across the UK opportunities to engage with film”.

Financial backing

The academy offers bursaries to help those in need with costs, including travel and childcare.   

The initiative forms a key part of the BFI’s plans to improve film education for 5-19 year olds, a core aim of the BFI’s Film Forever five-year plan to support the future success of UK film.

Funding partners include the Department for Education in England, which has provided £3m for the programme, with the National Lottery, Creative Scotland and Northern Ireland Screen this year working with the BFI to take the Academy to every nation of the UK. Strategic partners include BAFTA, Pinewood Studios and Creative Skillset.

Masterclasses

Last year’s participants received from masterclasses from British talent including directors Edgar Wright (The World’s End), Ken Loach (The Angels’ Share), and Asif Kapadia (Senna), actor Riz Ahmed (Four Lions), and Bond production executive, Anthony Waye.

They were also taken on insider tours of facilities including Pinewood Studios and the BFI National Archive and received masterclasses, career surgeries and one-to-one mentoring support from industry professionals courtesy of BAFTA.

Full details of the BFI Film Academy and links to all partners can be found here: www.bfi.org.uk/filmacademy

BFI Film Academy partners 2013/14

RESIDENTIAL CRAFT SKILLS      

  • National Film and Television School, Beaconsfield

SPECIALIST RESIDENTIALS         

  • Film and Video Workshop, Holloway (Animation and VFX)
  • Calling the Shots, Bristol (Animation)
  • CTVC, Covent Garden (Documentary)
  • Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle (Screenwriting)
  • Amersham and Wycombe College, Buckinghamshire (VFX)

NORTHERN IRELAND        

  • Cinemagic, Belfast
  • The Nerve Centre, Derry/Londonderry & Armagh

SCOTLAND  

  • Screen Education Edinburgh. Edinburgh
  • GMAC (Glasgow Media Access Centre) Film, Glasgow

WALES         

  • Media Academy Wales, Newport, Bangor, Aberystwyth

EAST OF ENGLAND           

  • Signals Essex Media Centre, Colchester
  • City Screen (Cambridge) for Cambridgeshire Film Consortium, Cambridge
  • Culture Works Foundation, Norwich & Great Yarmouth

EAST MIDLANDS   

  • CfBT Education Trust in partnership with the University of Lincoln, Lincoln
  • Broadway Media Centre, Nottingham

LONDON      

  • Eastside Educational Trust, Shoreditch
  • The Film and Video Workshop, Holloway
  • Mouth That Roars, Shoreditch
  • Barbican Centre Trust, Barbican
  • Young Film Academy, Barking
  • Met Film School, Ealing and Lyric, Hammersmith
  • CTVC, Covent Garden
  • British Film Institute, BFI Southbank, Lambeth

NORTH EAST           

  • Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle
  • Kids for Kids UK, Crook, Co Durham
  • Beacon Hill Arts CIC, Wallsend, Tyne & Wear

NORTH WEST         

  • Cornerhouse (Greater Manchester Arts Centre - GMAC), Manchester
  • Signal Film and Media, Barrow (Cumbria)
  • FACT (Foundation for Art & Creative Technology), Liverpool

SOUTH EAST           

  • Resource Productions, Pinewood and Shepperton
  • Film Oxford, Oxford
  • Screen South, Maidstone

SOUTH WEST          

  • The Watershed Arts Trust, Bristol
  • Somerset Film and Video Ltd, Bridgwater, Somerset
  • White Lantern Film, Bournemouth
  • Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Bristol

WEST MIDLANDS  

  • Thomas Adams School, Wem
  • The Rural Media Company, Hereford

YORKSHIRE & HUMBER    

  • Reel Solutions (film) LLP, Leeds and Hull
  • Showroom Workstation, Sheffield

Topics