University's London Film School accredited as centre of excellence

It was announced on 5 July that the University’s London Film School (LFS) will be part of the UK’s Screen Academy Network. The LFS has been identified by Skillset as one of a small number of institutions which are “centres of excellence” and offer the highest quality training and skills for the film industry. As well as endorsement, the initiative comes with a funding package which will enable the LFS to offer a substantial number of new bursaries to UK students, launch new courses and instigate a pan-European exchange programme.

The Skillset partnership will enable the London Film School to offer 20 MA filmmaking bursaries for UK students. It addresses LFS’s key goal of ensuring good access for the current generation of talented UK graduate students so that they can participate and benefit from the school's special culture and its very full learning programme, as Mike Leigh, Horace Ove, Roger Pratt, Bill Douglas and many other UK filmmakers did before them. The MA filmmaking degree is based on the conviction that students benefit from a professional working base in all technical departments and craft skills and so it trains 'filmmakers' whose knowledge will cover a range of film jobs.

In addition the LFS will be setting up a Craft Extension programme from January 2006, addressing the need for graduating students to manage their way between film school and the professional world. Courses will be offered in cinematography, editing, sound and production design. Students will extend their professional experience and deepen their understanding of specialist practices, through a year-long programme of tutorials, master classes and a work placement.

In autumn 2005 the London Film School will be launching the UK European Film Education Exchange (EFEE) in association with Skillset. LFS will establish and administer a hub to link the Skillset Screen Academy Network and the Film Business Academy to the emerging Europe-wide network. The EFEE will encourage and facilitate the movement of graduate students and professionals seeking to broaden their skills around a network of key schools within the European Union.

Mike Leigh OBE chairman (and alumnus) of The London Film School said: “LFS turns 50 in 2006, and it’s going to be a very special birthday. On top of the new degrees, some extraordinary filmmaking in the school and new resources, comes this recognition of our great ambitions for LFS and for all film training in the UK. Many happy returns!”

Ben Gibson, director of the London Film School, said: “Screen Academy recognition and Skillset’s funding come together at a crucial time for the London Film School. LFS has been reorganised in the last five years and now wants to build consistently on its achievements over 50 years as an international graduate school, keeping educational methods that really work and updating our high level technical training to keep pace with the industry. The experience of learning a craft, for the student, doesn't divide education from training, and neither do we. Skillset has shown pragmatism and flexibility around this combination, responding to the quality and commitment of a diverse group of learning environments. The SSA Network is good news for LFS and for the UK industry.”

The London Film School was founded in 1956 and celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2006. LFS is recognised as one of the world’s key graduate conservatoires for film-making and remains film education’s most cosmopolitan institution, with LFS graduates established in film and television production in more than eighty countries.

Skillset is the Sector Skills Council for the Audio Visual Industries covering broadcast, film, video, interactive media and photo imaging. The Skillset Screen Academy Network, which includes the Skillset Film Business Academy, is endorsed by the UK film industry as providing the best education and skills development for the future workforce at a further, higher and postgraduate level.

For further information, see: www.lfs.org.uk or contact Kate Hughes at LFS: 020 7836 9642, email: k.hughes@lfs.org.uk

5 July 2005