BFI announces 10-year plan to ‘support the moving image’, including games

The British Film Institute has announced a new ten-year plan to “support film and the moving image”, including video games.

The new initiative, titled Screen Culture 2033, “will champion the value of the full breadth of screen culture, including video games and interactive work.”

Describing screen culture as “young, vibrant and expanding”, the BFI says “it showcases a broader screen landscape that encompasses film, television, digital media, extended reality (XR) and video games” and states “that it has become the dominant medium of communication, information and storytelling for Gen Z and beyond”.

Among other pledges, the BFI announces that it will set up a £3.2 million BFI National Lottery International Connections Fund to support the UK screen professionals’ international marketplace initiative We Are UK Film, which “promotes the UK screen sector, across film, video games, XR, animation and documentary, to industry professionals around the world”.

“Screen Culture 2033 explains how, over the next ten years, we at the BFI will transform public access to our programs and collections, and how we will use our leadership role and National Lottery funding to build a sector of screen that benefits the whole of UK society and contributes to a thriving economy,” says the BFI (thanks, NME).

“Most of us experience or contribute to screen culture – through film, television, online video, extended reality and video games – in our daily lives,” said the CEO of BFI, Ben Roberts. “It informs and defines us, and continues to grow as an art form and creative industry.

“With Screen Culture 2033, we want to transform the way people can access our programs, enjoy screen culture and gain skills and jobs across the UK.”