Raindance TV live on Joost

Raindance.tv, a web and mobile-based independent film destination, today announced that it is joining Joost, the world’s first broadcast-quality internet television service. Joost users will now be able to view for free Raindance.tv's unrivalled range of independent features, shorts and documentaries.

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BBC has launched New Music Shorts 2007

The BBC has launched New Music Shorts 2007 – an initiative offering aspiring filmmakers a £5,000 budget to make a music-based short film with a professional production company and have it premiered at the BBC Electric Proms festival in October.

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Restrictions on street filming

The UK Government are about to propose restrictions on photography in public places which could make street photography and documentary photography against the law.
There's a petition on the Downing St website against this.
Please sign and forward if you are so inclined...

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Photography/

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Colin Brown Is Appointed British Film Commissioner

Here's a snippet from 4RFV :

The UK Film Council have recently announced the appointment of Colin Brown as British Film Commissioner.

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Quick Links

Links are what makes the internet great, so here are a few for your browsing pleasure:

Is this the inspiration for the Sony's bouncing balls?
http://www.e-cr.co.uk/crblog/?p=300

"Ubois cites a recent European video-archiving study that found TV tape storage begins to degrade after 20 years. That means 70 percent of existing TV footage will be gone by 2025. Imagine if 70 percent of existing books were going to be burned by 2025." The problems faced by US television researchers

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Nokia Shorts/BIFA Best 15 Sec Short winner announced

A (very) short film about a disastrous ballet audition scooped a prestigious BIFA (British Independent Film Award) at a glittering ceremony in London last night. The super-short film, by Katherine Taylor from London was voted winner of the 2006 Nokia Shorts competition by the judges and won the BIFA for ‘Best Fifteen Second Short’.

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And the winners are...!

Last night saw stars and leading figures of the British film industry turn up to celebrate the British Independent Film Awards at Hammersmith Palais, London.

In its ninth year, the British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) have established themselves as one of the most important awards ceremonies in the British film industry and are regarded as the kick-off to the Awards Season. The BIFAs celebrate the best of British talent, including Helen Mirren who is this year’s Variety UK Film Achievement Award recipient.

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State aid: Commission approves revised UK film tax incentive scheme

Hi Everyone,

I'm pretty busy right now so I'm just gonna rip this from the press release...

The European Commission has today given State Aid approval to the new film tax reliefs. A notice was posted on the European Commission website today.

The new tax relief will mean:

• For films that cost up to £20 million, the Film Production Company (FPC) will be able to claim an enhanced deduction of 100% with a payable cash element of 25% of UK qualifying film production expenditure.
• For films that cost over £20 million, the FPC will be able to claim an enhanced deduction of 80% with a payable cash element of 20% of UK qualifying film production expenditure.
• The minimum UK spend threshold for qualifying films will be set at 25%.

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