By ALI NADERZAD – July 27, 2010

The British fund that gave us films by Andrea Arnold and Ken Loach will be no more as of next April. The decision to totally disband this fund of major cinema arts follows recent changes at the top and the unavoidable cost-cutting measures that it behooves one to engineer. But the Film Council? Talk about a slap in the face. The news are especially incredible for this Cannes habitue as it seems that almost any film out of Great Britain has received funding from this organization. It remains unclear at this time who or what will be administering the government’s now inadequate 15M£ lottery fund, which will remain active beyond this point. As the U.K. Film Council also provided much logistical know-how to the British Film Institute, it remains to be seen what effects this sudden and major break in the chain will have on the distribution and exhibition scenarios the Council provided assistance on. Some lesser incarnation of the Fund will eventually come about but the name Film Council is inextricably linked to several brilliant opuses. And that is why it hurts to see it go.

(pictured: Shane Meadows’ “This is England,” one of the beneficiaries of U.K. Film Council funds)