Contemporary British Cinema Hub

Contemporary British Cinema Hub

British Cinema and Society: Chronology 1997-20010

This entry is part of the British Cinema and Society Chronology which goes from 1939 until the present. It maps major social and political events and cultural and film policy changes as well as the films themselves enabling contextual comparisons to be made. 

Contemporary British Films

Atonement, 2007. Joe Wright

Brick Lane. 2007. Dir Sarah Gavron

Bullet Boy, 2005. Saul Dibb

The Calcium Kid, 2002. Dir: Alex de Rakoff

Control, 2007: Anton Corbijn

Dirty Pretty Things: 2003. Dir. Stephen Frears

Elizabeth the Golden Age, 2007 . Dir Shekhar Kapur

Ghosts, 2007: Nick Broomfield

Happy–Go–Lucky(2008): Mike Leigh

Hot Fuzz, 2006. Edgar Wright

In This World, 2002. Michael Winterbottom

It's A Free World,2007: Dir: Ken Loach

Last Resort. 2000. Pawel Pawlikowski

London to Brighton. 2006. Paul Andrew Williams

Of Time & The City (2008)

This is England. 2006. Shane Meadows

Contemporary British Directors

For contemporary British Directors please follow link to Contemporary British Directors page 

Institutional Issues  

The Irresistable Rise of the Multiplex

Contemporary British Cinema: Representing The World Locally

Digital Projection: Foundation of a New Exhibition System in the UK?

Film Marketing

Guerilla Cinema: The 'Other' of British Cinema

Mobile cinema in the UK 

Representing Changing Britain: Ethnicity and Hybridity

The Heritage Film in British Cinema Part 1

Working Title. Brief history of the production company  

British Film Institutions

British Board of Film Classification (BBFC)

British Council British film website and information britfilms.com hompage

British Film Institute Strategy Statement (Last update June 2007)

Sight & Sound Home Page. Sight and Sound has been the monthly film magazine produced by the British Film Institute since before the Second World War.

Department of Culture Media & Sport (DCMS) Film Policy Page

UK Film Council

BECTU reponse to DCMS consultation on the "Cultural Test" for the definition of a British film

Film Council to take on role of whether a film is British certification test

Vertigo Magazine: The Film Parliament

Future of British Film Archives Secured Purnell awards £25 million

: 27 Apr 2008 21:49 |  Tags: Bbfc Britfilm British Film Institute Contemporary British Cinema Hub Media Studies Sight And Sound Uk Film Council |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

What is a British Film?

Qualifying as a British film & tax relief

Introduction  

One of the puzzling questions for A Level Students is what counts as a British film. It isn't very obvious as the murky world of film financing , tax dodges (sorry  breaks) can make  very unlikley films "British. Because of this there are several benchmarks that can be applied. Everything below the introduction  is taken from the UK Film Council site. Clicking on the links will bring you to the current definitions.

For most normal people rather than international financiers, the so called "cultural test " is the one which we would apply. To pass the cultural test the proposed film must get 16 out of 31 marks. The full table of how to get this can be found by clicking on the appropriate link. This cultural test is largely in accord with the principles of "Cultural Citizenship" which seeks to ensure a diverse set of representations of people within a particular culture at a particular historical moment. 

However for the purposes of the exam you will need to be aware of the differing benchmarks and definitions. It is worth pointing out again that the British film industry is much more than British Films.  Many people are employed in software or technical positions which are largely dependent upon Hollywood. Thus the British film industry can be doing well when the range of British films produced can be very thin on the ground  

Qualifying as a British Film

Qualifying as a British film provides a number of advantages; productions are eligible to apply for UK Film Council funding and for the benefits of the UK’s tax relief structures. Films can qualify as British in one of three ways. They must meet the requirements of one of the following:

• One of the UK’s official bilateral co-production treaties, or

• The European Convention on Cinematographic Co-production

• The Cultural Test (Schedule 1 to the Films Act 1985)

Co-production

For information on qualifying as a British film via the UK’s official bilateral co-production treaties or the European Convention, click here.

Cultural Test
For information on qualifying as a British Film using the Cultural Test, click here.

Tax Relief
For information on the UK's system of Tax Relief for British Films, click here.

European Certificate of British Nationality
British qualifying films are eligible for an European Certificate of British Nationality. For information on qualifying for an European Certificate of British Nationality, click here.

: 29 Oct 2007 22:49 |  Tags: A Level Film Studies A Level Media Studies British Cinema British Cinema From 1990 Cultural Citizenship Kinoeye Media Issues And Debates The Cultural Test Uk Film Council |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem