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Following the announcement on 26 July 2010, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport acknowledged the value of the screen agencies by issuing an endorsement: “The screen agencies do an excellent job promoting film production, video games development, skills and more. For a relatively small investment, they have encouraged investment of over £50m in the audio-visual creative industries across all regions. Retaining this level of support is important and we are considering how the important function they perform fits in with the planned Local Enterprise Partnerships”.

In an announcement on 26 July 2010, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, outlined plans to abolish the UK Film Council as part of an efficiency review of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s (DCMS) 55 public bodies.

The DCMS said that the main activities carried out by the UK Film Council, which currently has an annual budget of £15m to invest in British film and employs 75 staff, would continue through other organisations. Mr Hunt said he wanted to establish "a direct and less bureaucratic relationship with the British Film Institute" and that Government and Lottery support for film would continue.

In a statement John Woodward, CEO of the UK Film Council, called the proposal "short-sighted and potentially very damaging, especially as there is at present no roadmap setting out where the UK Film Council's responsibilities and funding will be placed in the future".

Film producer Tim Bevan, who chairs the council, said: "Abolishing the most successful film support organisation the UK has ever had is a bad decision, imposed without any consultation or evaluation. People will rightly look back on today's announcement and say it was a big mistake, driven by short-term thinking and political expediency. British film, which is one of the UK's more successful growth industries, deserves better."

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is the organisation appointed by the
American Academy to select the UK’s submission for consideration for the Foreign
Language Film Award at the 83rd American Academy Awards in 2011.
Eligible films must have been released in the UK for at least seven consecutive days to a
public paying audience beginning no earlier than 1 October 2009 and no later than 30
September 2010. No television or online transmission may have occurred before the film’s
theatrical release.
There is no requirement for entries to be in a language indigenous to the UK or to be set in
the UK. The dialogue must be predominantly in a language or languages other than
English and accurate English subtitles are required. Creative control of the motion picture
must have been largely in the hands of citizens of the UK. For full rules go to www.oscars.org/rules
Producers and distributors should notify BAFTA by email to nickw@bafta.org of their
intention to submit a film by Monday 16 August.

While it's often Norwich's cobbled streets and historic quarter which often attract the attention of film crews, a fledgling director has been inspired by an urban area on the edge of the city centre.

Chris Dundon's film Bro will be one of 170 short films shown at Rushes Soho Shorts in London later this month.

Set around the Vauxhall Street area of Norwich, the 18-minute film tells the story of Simon whose brother has a form of autism and how he copes with his sibling's condition.

The film has gained global recognition and has already been screened in Beverly Hills and won a 'special mention' from the jury at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen - one of the oldest and most renowned film festivals in the world.

Mr Dundon, 27, from Hertfordshire, who has worked with a number of filmmakers from Norwich on the film, said: “I fell in love with Vauxhall Street and the surrounding area.

“When people think of Norwich, they don't think of the urban side of it and I thought it was the perfect location for the story so we went ahead and filmed there.

“We filmed around the Vauxhall Street area, at the basketball courts and along the A11.”

Mr Dundon teamed up with Norwich-based producer Jonathan Blagrove, who lives in Swansea Road, to create the film, which was commissioned by Screen East.

Ahead of the Rushes Soho Shorts screening on July 24, for which Bro has been shortlisted for the long form award, the film was premiered at the Beverly Hills Film Festival in April and was screened at the 36th Seattle International Film Festival and the 23rd Singapore International Film Festival.

The cast includes Ellie Paskell, who played Maxine in BBC series Waterloo Road.

Mr Dundon, who took inspiration from a school friend's own experience with an autistic sibling, added: “It's been my first commissioned short and it's incredible how well it's done. I didn't expect it to get into Beverly Hills at all and the Seattle festival is huge in the States.”

A film co-directed by Norwich graduate Jon Dunleavy, who studied at what was then called the Norwich School of Art and Design, has also been shortlisted for Rushes Soho Shorts.

Crash Bang Wallow is a bittersweet comic tale of an ex-stuntman Larry LeTan and his rise and fall from Hollywood infamy.

The festival will be held from July 21 to 30.

For more information about the festival, go to www.sohoshorts.com

Want to win £5,000 cash and £20,000 worth of digital marketing support for your feature documentary project?

Applications are now open for Docs 360, a 9-month development programme and competition for documentary filmmakers who want to use cross-platform strategies to develop, finance, market and distribute their film. The programme is backed by Skillset’s Film Skills Fund, digital marketing agency Channel D and leading UK distributor Dogwoof and run by Initialize Films and the Digital Filmmakers’ Network.

To apply and for more information please go to www.docs360.co.uk

The workshop being held on Wednesday 14th July 2010 is now full. The next available workshop will be held in Norwich during the first week in September - exact date and venue to be announced next week.

The BSLBT Zoom Short Film Scheme for Deaf filmmakers is running again. Zoom awardees are given £2K as well as production and post production support to make a short film in British Sign Language. Deadline is 5pm Friday 17th September.

This year also sees the launch of Zoom Focus which gives previous Zoom awardees the opportunity to win £4,000 as well as production and post production support.

Please visit http://www.bslbt.co.uk/zoom/ for guidelines and application form.

Thanks to your votes Screen East can now say "Congratulations" to Jon Dunleavy and Keith Wilson Singer. Three weeks ago they asked for your help and now their Digital Short, 'Crash! Bang! Wallow?' won the National Film Board of Canada Online Competition – Cannes 2010! The film was shortlisted to 10 from 1300 short films entered into the Cannes Short Film Corner and was voted for on YouTube by the public – well done to everyone involved in the film!