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LONDON FILM SCHOOL ANNOUNCES MOVE TO
BARBICAN CENTRE IN 2016
Bespoke new location for leading film school as part of the emerging cultural hub in the City of London
£12m fit-out of 32,000sq ft space will provide state of the art facilities, extended accommodation, public outreach and space for industry screenings and events.
London 12 September 2013: The London Film School today announced that it has concluded a deal with the City of London Corporation to re-locate to the Barbican Centre. The LFS will move into space previously occupied by Exhibition Hall 1 on Golden Lane/Beech Street, which now also houses the new Barbican Cinemas.
Following a six year search for an appropriate new location, LFS director Ben Gibson said, “This is the first time we’ve found the right place with the right deal. We’re very happy to have found the building, not just for itself and its central location, but because it offers extraordinary synergies with the institutions around it, including Barbican Cinemas, the whole Barbican arts centre and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama next door.”
At 32,000 sq ft, the new location will offer 25% more space than the LFS’ current combination of buildings in Covent Garden, with the added advantage of being under one roof. The building will comprise a 130-seat main cinema, two sound stages, seven large teaching/workshop spaces and accommodation for technical departments and teaching – the LFS MA in Filmmaking trains across all the departments of film.
Funds will be sought from the BFI’s new Capital Fund for Film Schools, trusts, foundations and alumni, as well as contributions from individuals and corporations in the private sector and other lottery distributors.
“Beyond creating the right space for full time graduate training, the Barbican building will allow us to operate as a public space, bringing freelancers, the industry generally, schools and the general public into workshops, screenings and events. It will also provide a dedicated space for cross-artform work – we want to teach creativity in film via innovative collaborations with other art form schools and institutions”, said Gibson, who has also been working with The National Gallery, RADA and other bodies over the past five years.
Sir Nicholas Kenyon, Managing Director, Barbican, said:
“We are thrilled to have the London Film School as our future neighbours. Film has always been a vital element of what we do, as an art form in itself and because of the role it plays within the Barbican as an arts centre. They will be a perfect addition to the developing cultural hub in the Barbican area, which offers an unrivalled collection of leading arts and learning venues.
Catherine McGuinness, elected Member of the City of London Corporation which backs the Barbican, said:
“The City Corporation is committed to supporting the highest quality arts and education opportunities and we welcome the London Film School’s move to the City. It will benefit students and the local community and add even more vibrancy to the area.”
Mike Leigh, 1964 graduate and Chairman of LFS, said:
“We’ll miss the old warehouse on Shelton Street, but we can’t look back. Our friends in the City have offered an opportunity to build on an especially exciting decade for our school. LFS already stands for internationalism, for craft excellence, for innovation and creativity. It brings together extraordinary combinations of people to make films that engage with the real world. The Barbican building will allow us to share all this important work with UK filmmakers, and to build new constituencies in the UK and across the world. 2016 will be our 60th year and this move will take our work forward a major step. “
Further information; Kate Hughes (Head of Marketing)
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Notes to Editors:
The London Film School
Founded in 1956, LFS is one of the world's longest established graduate filmmaking schools. It is constituted as an international conservatoire with 70% of its MA Filmmaking students coming from outside the UK. The School produces 160 films a year, including work for the five teaching exercises on the MA Filmmaking. The School also offers an MA degree in Screenwriting, an MA degree in International Film Business and a PhD programme with the University of Exeter, and around 50 Continuous Professional Development courses each year as ‘LFS Workshops’. The school is the most active in Europe with post-graduation teaching partnerships, including The Low Budget Film Forum, Making Waves and launching in 2013 Serial Eyes, a 9 month teaching programme for TV writers in Berlin and London. LFS graduates (Associates) are established in film and television production in more than eighty countries. Associates include world-renowned filmmakers
Mike Leigh, Michael Mann, Tak Fujimoto, Roger Pratt, Ueli Steiger, Iain Smith, Duncan Jones, Horace Ove, Ho Yim, Danny Huston, Franc Roddam, Brad Anderson, Ann Hui, Marius Holst, Oliver Hermanus and Bill Douglas, as well as the film historian David Thomson and
the playwright Arnold Wesker. LFS is one of three Creative Skillset Film Academies, postgraduate institutions approved by the UK film industry as centres of excellence.
In September 2013: There are LFS graduation films by Giorgio Bosisio and Eli Kasavi in official selection in Venice and London; BORROWED TIME, a low budget feature which is the work of three LFS Associates Jules Bishop (writer-director), Olivier Kaempfer (producer) and David Rom (DOP) will open in theatres in the UK this month; LFS graduation films were nominated for a BAFTA (Good Night) and the Student Academy Awards (The Library of Burned Books) this year; There were 5 LFS films in Encounters Bristol and 3 in Palm Springs, and a total of 130 festival entries and 15 first prizes in the past year; recent graduate Flora Lau had her first feature BENDS in Official Selection (Un Certain Regard) in Cannes 2013.
lfs.org.uk
The Barbican
A world-class arts and learning organisation, the Barbican pushes the boundaries of all major art forms including dance, film, music, theatre and visual arts. Its creative learning programme further underpins everything it does. Over 1.5 million people pass through the Barbican’s doors annually, hundreds of artists and performers are featured, and more than 300 staff work onsite. The architecturally renowned centre opened in 1982 and comprises the Barbican Hall, the Barbican Theatre, the Pit, Cinemas One, Two and Three, Barbican Art Gallery, a second gallery The Curve, foyers and public spaces, a library, Lakeside Terrace, a glasshouse conservatory, conference facilities and three restaurants. The City of London Corporation is the founder and principal funder of the Barbican Centre.
The Barbican is home to Resident Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra; Associate Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra; Associate Ensembles the Academy of Ancient Music and Britten Sinfonia, and Associate Producer Serious. Its Artistic Associates include Boy Blue Entertainment, Cheek by Jowl and Michael Clark Company. International Associates are Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig and Jazz at Lincoln Center.
The City of London Corporation
The elected City of London Corporation supports the Square Mile global business hub around St Paul’s and provides iconic cultural services and open spaces for London, the SE and the UK. The Barbican, one of key contributions to culture is based alongside its Guildhall School of Music and Drama. For more information, see www.cityoflondon.gov.uk
  
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