Film Council - improving access to, and education about, the moving image through the British Film Institute, forty-seventh report of session 2002-03, report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence (Paperback)

The Film Council was created in 2000 with the aim of developing a sustainable UK film industry and developing a sustainable film culture. The Committee has followed up on the National Audit Office's report (HCP 593 session 2002-03) (ISBN 0102921296) which concentrated on the Film Council's funding and oversight of the BFI (British Film Institute). The main conclusions of the Committee are that:- the Council has yet to establish itself as the strategic leader for improving access to and education about the moving image, but has left the BFI to pursue its own agenda, despite insufficient evaluation of BFI's subsidised activities and its financial management, and insufficient alignment between the Council's and BFI's objectives. Most of BFI's activities are easy to access for people in London and the South-East, but not for people outside these areas and the BFI needs to review the relative balance between its activities and those of the new regional screen agencies created by the Film Council. There is a major problem with the many films in the National Film and Television Archive which are decomposing, particularly nitrate film kept in old BFI vaults. Even the films in the Archive which have already been examined and catalogued, are not yet accessible to the public, suggesting that the BFI has been unable to keep up with the volume of work.