BFI Chair Greg Dyke today 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 while 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 of content, 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. Today it is also 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 on 18 October will launch on the BFI Player on the same day as its premiere at the BFI London Film Festival and UK release on 18 October
The BFI Player will launch with seven different collections:
London Film Festival Presents; exclusive red carpet action, talent interviews and special behind the scenes access to the UK’s most important film festival
Backed by the BFI; the best of British cinema – a showcase of some of the finest films, many funded by the BFI Film Fund
Edwardian Britain; for the first time ever all 28 hours of the extraordinary films of pioneering filmmakers Sagar Mitchell and James Kenyon, c.1900 – 1912
GOTHIC: The Dark Heart of Film; The BFI’s blockbuster project featuring four compelling themes Monstrous, The Dark Arts, Haunted and Love is a Devil
Cult Cinema; a passport to an exciting and surprising world of cult British cinema from the BFI’s Flipside DVD label
Inside Film; films about filmmaking for filmmakers and all those who love cinema
Sight and Sound Selects (from their Greatest Film poll); a growing selection of the best films of all time.
As far as I'm concerned, launch date cannot come quickly enough, and this important addition to the BFI should prove a huge hit with the nation's film buffs.
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