) is at the heart of sustaining that growth. With its new 10-year plan, its bosses hope to set up the 89-year-old org for success as best they can, but are contending with a cut in investment.an ambitious 10-year screen culture strategy and a plan to fund the period’s first three years
Roberts says that the org wanted to be explicit in the strategy document about the funding challenges and at the same time embrace the opportunities, with digital being a key factor. The U.K.’s various lockdowns saw the BFI’s digital services deliver “meaningful income,” Roberts said. The plan is to start unlocking the value in everything the BFI does, and this includes monetizing the vast film assets the org holds in its archives.
“Clearly you can stimulate an audience back to cinemas, if you can set a price and if the slate is strong enough – we feel that independent cinema within that needs a particular focus, because I think those big stimulus moments tend to favor the mainstream more than they do the independents,” Roberts said.