Terence Davies is again BFI-bound. The revered British director made his first features (including The Trilogy, Distant Voices, Still Lives and The Long Day Closes) under the auspices of the British Film Institute's now defunct production arm.

Now, his latest film, Of Time And The City, screening in official selection in Cannes will be released in the UK by the BFI's resurgent distribution arm.

Of Time And The City was made as part of 'Digital Departures,' a low-budget initiative to commission three films as part of the Liverpool 2008 Capital of Culture celebrations.

It will screen at the Edinburgh Film Festival next month. In October, will also receive a special autumn screening in Liverpool alongside the other two films being made as part of Digital Departures, Lawrence Gough's Salvage and Lindy Heymann's contemporary drama Starstruck. The UK release will then follow in November.

Using archive footage, Of Time and The City comes billed as 'both a love song and a eulogy to the director's birthplace of Liverpool.' It was produced by Sol Papadopoulos and Roy Boulter.

'His work is pure cinematic poetry and we are delighted to be releasing this latest film,' commented Jane Giles, Head of Conmtent Development at the BFI.

'We are very pleased to have done a deal with the BFI. This is a major production which demands the specialist handling at which the BFI excels,' said Chris Mol, director of Production, Trade and Investment at Northwest Vision and Media.

Northwest Vision and Media who devised the scheme, together with its partners the Liverpool Culture Company, the UK Film Council and the BBC, awarded each of the three filmmaking teams £250,000 to make their films.

Of Time And The City is on Hanway's Cannes slate. Hanway holds international sales rights to The Terence Davies Trilogy and Distant Voices, Still Lives as part of the BFI collection.