National Lottery funding brings new films to more cinema-goers across the UK

Cinema-goers across the UK will be able to enjoy a wider range of British films during January thanks to National Lottery support through the UK Film Council.
The UK Film Council’s Print and Advertising Fund is ensuring more cinema-goers around the country will get a chance to see the latest releases including Neil Jordan’s Breakfast on Pluto, Michael Winterbottom’s comedy, Cock and Bull Story and the award-winning Frozen directed by Juliet Keon. The fund is also supporting the expanded release of the London-shot Match Point, the latest Woody Allen film.
Each of these January releases demonstrate the fund’s strategy to elevate strong yet specialised films beyond limited screen releases, boosted by the increasing opportunities for films to be screened digitally. Film distribution company Redbus will receive £200,000 to support Cock and Bull Story. Icon will receive £53,000 for Match Point and Guerilla Films, £21,000 for Frozen. Pathé will receive an initial award of £70,000 for Breakfast on Pluto. For audiences this means that the number of prints of these films will be increased enabling more cinema-goers across the UK to see the films: in the case of Cock and Bull Story the number of screens able to play the film will be more than doubled from 60 to 150.
In its 18 months of operation, the Print and Advertising Fund has sought to support a wide range of strong specialist films across genres ranging from international documentaries to British comedies to US releases. At end of last year the UK Film Council supported the critically-acclaimed French-US documentary, March of the Penguins, to ensure smaller locations could screen the film earlier in the film’s release and at the same time provide additional opportunities for families to see the film.
Other films within the UK Film Council’s slate of distribution support have included the compelling documentary Mad Hot Ballroom (£50,180); Jim Jarmusch’s off-beat comedy Broken Flowers (£180,000); rising director Saul Metzstein’s comedy Guy X (£39,800); and Murderball (£45,000), an inspirational documentary about the paraplegic sport of ‘wheelchair rugby’. In each instance, the UK Film Council works in partnership with the respective distributor to help ensure that the films achieve a wider and strongly supported release through advertising, promotions and publicity.
The UK Film Council’s Print and Advertising Fund was re-launched in June 2005 with an annual budget of £2 million to support the broader release of specialised films to UK audiences. The body also recently launched the ground-breaking Digital Screen Network is installing state-of-the-art digital film projectors and related equipment in 209 cinemas across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with the first cinemas already screening films in digital format.
“Our on-going support of strong and striking filmmaking across a wide range of genres stimulates audience appetite for more specialist films and enhances film culture in this country. We will continue to work with all the distributors to identify how we can support their specialist and more challenging releases, and assist them in reaching a wider audience,” commented Pete Buckingham, head of the UK Film Council’s Distribution and Exhibition Department.
(GB)