British youth get film bonanza
The UK’s leading film organisations have joined hands to craft the first countrywide film education strategy. Film: 21st Century Literacy aims to enhance film education in the UK so that the youth have better opportunities to watch, understand and make films.
The initiative is being led by the British Film Institute, FILMCLUB, First Light Movies, Film Education, and the UK Film Council (UKFC), along with the National and Regional Screen Agencies and Skillset.
Under the strategy, there will be investment in educational resources accompanying publicly funded films; a training programme will be developed for film education practitioners; online access will be provided to UK film archives and new learning routes like the Creative & Media Diploma and the Arts Award will be used.
The UKFC, in addition to the £12 million currently disbursed on film, will release a further £750,000 towards the initiative.
UKFC CEO John Woodward said, “The idea behind the strategy is to use film to help children and young people prepare for adult life in the 21st century where visual literacy has become as important as the ability to read and write. If, along the way, we also ensure that young people discover the true richness and diversity of cinema then we will have been 100% successful.
“Thanks to the internet and TV, moving images are now ubiquitous but feature films have a unique ability to reach young people from all backgrounds. Film education activities emphasise communication and team-working skills so this strategy is about social and workplace skills as well as culture and literacy.”
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