BFI Player launches a new deal for UK film audiences and industry
- Collected, curated and connected: brand new video-on-demand service is unveiled
- Seven channels including day and date releases for The Selfish Giant and The Epic of Everest
- Biggest ever archive release
BFI (British Film Institute) Chair Greg Dyke has unveiled the 'BFI Player', a brand new video-on-demand platform for the millions that enjoy independent and specialised film and who will now get the full BFI experience, wherever they live.
Available nationwide from 9 October, the BFI Player will support the UK’s film industry by offering new distribution opportunities whilst making great film accessible to the widest possible audience across the UK.
Launching to coincide with the BFI London Film Festival, the BFI Player is a pioneering new way of taking cultural assets into the digital age and will offer a mix of seven new channels, or ‘collections’, including behind-the-scenes at the Festival, contemporary and archive films – including GOTHIC and Cult cinema – and, for the first time ever, the full 28 hours of rare Edwardian film footage from filmmakers Mitchell and Kenyon.
Offering a mix of free (approx. 60%) and pay-per-view (approx. 40%) content that includes over 1,000 items, including hundreds of feature films in the launch period, the BFI Player will go further than current VOD platforms by offering deep exploration and understanding of film content, chosen and contextualised by the experts at the BFI, all in HD quality. The BFI Player will evolve and grow as new partners and increasing content come on board over the coming months, with Phase 2 of the BFI Player set to launch in early 2014.
Special events will be a feature of the BFI Player. It has also been announced that Clio Barnard’s The Selfish Giant will launch on the BFI Player simultaneously with its UK theatrical release on 25 October, and the BFI restoration of The Epic Of Everest (1924) will launch on the BFI Player on the same day as its premiere at the BFI London Film Festival and UK cinema release on 18 October.
Greg Dyke, BFI Chair, said: “The launch of the BFI Player is a defining moment in the BFI's 80 year history – it will unlock the past, present and future of British film and, most importantly, offers a new deal for UK audiences by ensuring that as many people as possible across the UK get access to great films. I’m really excited about the BFI Player’s potential. The BFI is pivotal to identifying great films and nurturing and giving a voice to great filmmakers in the UK and now offers a platform to take these stories out to whole new audiences.”
Edward Humphrey, BFI Director of Digital, said: “Audience behaviour has shifted to embrace digital platforms. Now the BFI Player gives us a foundation from which we can support a digital future for film lovers and bring the story of film to a truly national audience. The UK film industry leads the world in digital innovation and we hope the BFI Player will quickly become an essential element in the distribution models of tomorrow.”
The BFI Player will launch with seven different collections:
BFI London Film Festival Presents; exclusive red carpet action, talent interviews and special behind-the -scenes access to the UK’s most important film festival and a selection of films and highlights from previous festivals
Backed by the BFI; a collection of contemporary British films, each supported by the BFI’s Film Fund
GOTHIC: The Dark Heart of Film; The BFI’s blockbuster project featuring compelling themes Monstrous, The Dark Arts, Haunted and Love is a Devil
Edwardian Britain; for the first time ever, all 28 hours of the extraordinary films of pioneering filmmakers Sagar Mitchell and James Kenyon made between 1900 and 1913
Sight & Sound Selects; a growing selection of iconic film classics, hand picked by Sight & Sound magazine
Cult Cinema; the Flipside of British cinema - weird and wonderful films that have slipped through the cracks of history
Inside Film; documentaries and interviews about the art and industry of filmmaking
