British Film Institute

The British Film Institute (BFI) is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to "encourage the development of the arts of film, television and the moving image throughout the United Kingdom, to promote their use as a record of contemporary life and manners, to promote education about film, television and the moving image generally, and their impact on society, to promote access to and appreciation of the widest possible range of British and world cinema and to establish, care for and develop collections reflecting the moving image history and heritage of the United Kingdom."

History

The institute was founded in 1933. Despite its foundation resulting from a recommendation in a report on Film and National Life, at that time the institute was a private company, though it has received public money throughout its history - from the Privy Council and Treasury until 1965 and the various culture departments since then. The institute was restructured following the Radcliffe Report of 1948 which recommended that the institute should concentrate on developing the appreciate on the films art, rather than creating film itself. Thus control of educational film production passed to the National Committee for Visual Aids in Education and the British Film Academy assumed control for promoting production.

Related Topics:
1933 - 1948

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In 1988 the BFI opened the London Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI) on the South Bank. It could not make a success out of it, and the Museum was 'temporarily' closed in 1999, a situation that became permanent in 2002.

Related Topics:
1988 - Museum of the Moving Image - South Bank - 1999 - 2002

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The institute finally received a Royal Charter in 1983. It was updated in 2000, when the Film Council was created to govern its activities.

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