24/03/2005

Scottish Screen, the agency responsible for allocating National Lottery funds for film production in Scotland, has just announced the creation of two new funds that will widen the access to films in more remote areas of Scotland and to digital filmmaking.

The Rural Cinema Development Fund has just been established to enable the provision of coherent, appropriate and sustainable resources that will deliver quality services for existing and potential audiences across Scotland. The key aims of the new fund are to increase both the range of films that are screened and cinema attendance for less mainstream films in rural areas of the region.
Scottish Screen will offer potential partner organizations the sum of £15,000 per year for two years who in term will have to contribute at least 25% in cash and 15% in kind to the project.

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The Digital Access Fund will give traditionally excluded communities in Scotland (for geographic, social, economic or ethnic reason) the chance to participate in creative moving images via digital technology. Two types of grants are available to potential partners from public, private or voluntary sectors who are required to provide matching funds: grants of up to £50,000 for a three-year period covering 50% of total projects costs, and smaller grants of between £5,000-£10,000 are available for one year pilot funding for projects whose aim is to test feasibility and sustainability of those projects.
The deadline for applications to those grants is mid-April 2005.