EM Media, the screen agency for the East Midlands, has received an $829,696 (£500,000) boost from the East Midlands Development Agency (EMDA) to invest in film and media.

The agency says the money will kick-start a successor to the East Midlands Media Investments fund (EMMI), which was launched with European Regional Development money in 2006. It will announce the first investments from the new fund later this autumn.

EM Media said it will continue to make innovative investments in the development, production and distribution of film, game, TV and interactive content with global reach.

Through the EMMI fund it invested in 65 projects, which it bought over $116m (£70m) into the East Midlands. This included 27 feature films including Shane Meadow’s BAFTA winner This Is England, Anton Corbijn’s Ian Curtis biopic Control and Xiaolu Gao’s Locarno winner, She, A Chinese.

Emma Corbett, executive director of strategy and communications at EMDA, said: “The film and media sector is important to the East Midlands, bringing in millions of pounds to the region. The EMMI fund will enable the talented entrepreneurs who are working in this industry to embark on new projects encompassing everything from film and TV productions to the development of games and web-based initiatives.”

EM Media also continues to invest Lottery and Digital Film Archive Finance finance in film projects on behalf of the UK Film Council.

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