Hey Lovelies, 

After all of that release news, I thought I would share with all of you some very exciting news from the BFI, as their latest project ‘Britain on Film’ is launch today, featuring pieces from their archive that will be shown on all platforms including the BFI Player. 

Hoping to digitalise all of their film titles, the BFI are hoping that we will all get involved lovelies, by watching the 60 films that are being released over the 60 days of the event, that highlight the great people and places across the country, including footage from ‘The Passmore Family Collection’,  which is the earliest home video footage, found by the filmmakers grandson Michael Passmore who said, “I am very proud of my grandfather's films; they have such a lot of movement and are never boring. The films capture the joys of family occasions and holidays so beautifully. I am delighted that they will be able to be shared with the rest of the country and hope they will continue to give pleasure to anyone interested in the history of home movies.”

There will also be screenings of found footage from an ‘Old Norse Viking Festival’, a ‘Glasgow Tram’, ‘The Story of a Valley’, ‘Prawn Festival Kilkeel  & Lord Mayor's Show’, ‘Davy Crockett’, ‘The Bradford Godfather’, ‘Scenes at Chester on the River Dee’, ‘Evidence’, ‘Father Neptune Ceremony on Brighton Beach’, films looking into British Sign Language, ‘George Bernard Shaw’s Village’, ‘Do Something!’, ‘Covent Garden Porters’, ‘Penny Woolcock’s Out of the Rubble’ and many more never before seen archive pieces that have been found to show the different generations and parts of the country through the years. 

The BFI will also be allowing us lovelies to get involved by creating a map that will allow us to add our own footage and information lovelies to add to their archive, which sounds so cool, as it means we could find footage of our family from other people, like the creative director of the BFI, Heather Stewart did. 

Speaking about it, Heather said “I’ve never seen my family on film before so it was a wonderful surprise to discover three generations together. There’s a perennial joy in location spotting; couple this with the emotional power of film and Britain on Film has the potential to touch everyone in the UK. Britain on Film changes the film and TV archive landscape forever. It’s vital that the UK’s film and TV archives – Britain’s national collection – can be enjoyed by everyone, and now they can. The unprecedented scale of this project is a testament to the collaborative effort and skills of the BFI National Archive and the regional and national archives of the UK.”

Also speaking about the project, Culture Minister Ed Vaizey said “Britain on Film is a fantastic initiative and I congratulate the BFI and the national and regional archives on the huge amount of work they have put into creating a truly remarkable project. I'm particularly delighted that Britain on Film will be reaching the British public in so many different ways this summer all over the UK, and encourage everyone to check it out online via the BFI Player.”

As well, Robin Baker, Head Curator, BFI said  “For 120 years cameras have captured almost every aspect of life in the UK on film, but too often these have been inaccessible to all but the most determined researchers. Now, Britain on Film is transforming access to films from the UK’s archives and giving new life to them by making them available, no matter where you live.”

However lovelies if you can’t make the huge event in London, don’t worry because the BFI are hoping to reach the whole country, as they host a number of screenings across the country, with pop up cinemas in Glasgow, a screening at the Canterbury Cathedral, a culture night in Belfast and an outdoor screening in London lovelies, as they team up with Luna Cinema throughout August and October to provide more. 

Plus if you are taking a long flight soon, you will also be able to capture the footage on a BA flight through their new channel, or if you are picking up a coffee from Caffe Nero, you can kick back and enjoy the footage in one of ten special pods lovelies.