The UK Film Council has allocated $11m (£5.5m) from its reserves and recoupments to go towards new funding policies through March 2010.

The plans, published today in the Film in the Digital Age document, allocate the $11m of new funding to four new funds:

UK Film Festivals Fund - $3m (£1.5m) per year - to create a thriving film festival scene in the UK giving the public better access to the rich world of cinema in all its diversity;

UK Digital Film Archives Fund - $3m (£1m) per year - to open up access to the nation's unparalleled film heritage across the UK;

Partnership Challenge Fund - $2m (1m) per year - bringing new funding partnerships together to widen public participation in film, initially with the following priorities: media literacy and film education; cinema capital funding; cinema access and inclusion initiatives; London 2012 Olympic related film initiatives;

Digitisation and Marketing Fund - $4m (£2m) per year - building on our existing Prints and Advertising Fund with additional funding focusing on wider theatrical and online distribution of British and specialised film;

Applications and guidelines will be set over the next few months for the new funds, after more industry consultation.

In addition, the UKFC announed that it plans to set up a Marketing Testing Fund, which will draw up to £1 million per year from the existing Premiere Fund's £8m annual budget to market test British films. That will be open to any British film, not just Premiere Fund projects.

The UKFC clarified that its existing funds will stay at existing budget levels - the Premiere Fund at $16m/£8m per year, the New Cinema Fund at $10m/£5m per year, the Development Fund at $8m/£4m per year, and the P&A Fund at $4m (£2m per year). On the latter, the fund could be restructured to be combined with the new Digitisation and Marketing Fund - effectively doubling that pool of funding. The structure will be clarified in coming months.

'Our new activities are deliberately aimed at building the areas of activity which came through most strongly in the consultation exercise namely, more focus on audiences especially through digital distribution, and more impact by working more effectively with other funding partners,' said UKFC CEO John Woodward.

'The resounding message was that digital advances will change the way the film industry works and that the UK Film Council must take a lead. We recognise this and will act upon it by ensuring our policies and funding measures encourage and support innovation.'

Topics