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This paper traces key features of the BFI's evolving strategies for film education in UK schools during the final 25 years of the analogue era. Historically, the BFI did much to establish the characteristics of film study, but it also embodied tensions which have continued to preoccupy educators, such as the relationship between the instrumental use of film to support the curriculum, and learning about its intrinsic and distinctive qualities as a medium, or about its ideological function in society. The paper also addresses the question of whether «film» on its own constitutes a valid area of study, or whether it is more properly studied alongside television as part of «moving image media». The BFI has played a key role in exploring these issues and in exemplifying how film, or moving image media, can be taught to younger learners, but the internal vicissitudes it has constantly experienced have always pulled its educational activities in different directions. The central argument of this paper is that film education -and indeed media education in general- should be an entitlement for every learner, not something offered only to a minority or provided as an optional extra. The key projects described in this paper indicate some of the ways in which a publicly funded cultural institution can intervene in educational policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consecration of cultural products occurs both contemporaneously and retrospectively. This paper examines the influence of contemporaneous consecration on retrospective consecration in the UK film industry. We first examine the impact of professional and popular consecration on retrospective consecration using the list of “best films” compiled by the British Film Institute to gauge retrospective consecration. We then examine the impact of international film festivals on retrospective consecration. We show that experts and peers will have a differential effect on the process of retrospective consecration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section presents a letter of resignation from Paddy Whannel, education officer of the British Film Institute (BFI) Education Department, to Dennis Forman, chairman of the BFI, about the position of the BFI towards film education. Whannel notes that his resignation from the BFI Education Department was precipitated by the continuing crisis at the institute. He cites that the management failed to defend its departments from attacks. He also comments on the position of the BFI towards film education.

A letter from British Film Institute (BFI) Deputy Education Officer Alan Lovell to the staff of the BFI in London, England, is presented. Lovell notes that his resignation from the Education Department was precipitated by the continuing crisis at the institute. He claims that BFI Governor Helen Forman expressed her prejudices against the department. He criticizes the position of the BFI towards film education.