*** Apologies for cross-posting ****

 

The latest news from the British Universities Film & Video Council

 

http://www.bufvc.ac.uk/news

 

Newly elected chairman of the BUFVC

Professor John Ellis, Royal Holloway University of London, has been elected
Chairman of the British Universities Film & Video Council. He replaces
Professor Michael Clark of the Geodata institute, University of Southampton
(recently retired), who served as BUFVC's chairman for many years. Mike
Clark, who is an accomplished media producer as well as a scientist, has
been a dedicated supporter of the Council's work since the early 1970s. His
successor, John Ellis, has an outstanding track record as a television
producer and an academic in film and broadcasting studies. He has served as
Vice-Chair of PACT, Chair of the Association of Media Practice Educators,
and on such bodies as the DCMS/AHRC Task Group on Research and Knowledge
Transfer in the Arts and the HEFCE Communication, Cultural and Media Studies
Advisory Group. He is currently also Vice-Chair of MeCCSA (Media,
Communications and Cultural Studies Association).

 

Geoffrey O'Brien to retire in December

Geoffrey O'Brien, BUFVC's Assistant Director Finance and Services, is to
retire at the end of December 2007. Geoffrey joined the BUFVC in 1990 after
a career in commercial television, including more than twenty years at ITN.
During his time with the Council, he has in particular built up the off-air
recording back-up service as a key service for UK higher education. The
revised post of Deputy Chief Executive is now being advertised, with the
deadline of 12 November. For details, see http://www.bufvc.ac.uk/vacancies.

 

Research framework agreement with the University of Portsmouth

The BUFVC and the University of Portsmouth have signed a pioneering
framework agreement to support collaboration on future research projects.
The two organisations will work together in crafting new project initiatives
in film and television that will lead to the development of specialised
research tools and publications. Portsmouth's School of Creative Arts Film
and Media has a notable track record in British film history research and
publication, while the BUFVC has achieved a high profile with its research
projects on newsreels, cinemagazines and (currently) audiovisual
Shakespeare, which have all resulted in the delivery of substantial research
resources online. The agreement with Portsmouth is the first of a number of
formal research collaboration relationships the BUFVC plans to develop with
other member institutions throughout the UK.

 

Arts on Film Archive

During 2007 the BUFVC assisted the University of Westminster's AHRC-funded
project in encoding recordings of films for online access to the Arts
Council's collection of documentaries on artists which has recently
undergone restoration work. The resulting Arts on Film Archive
(http://artsonfilm.wmin.ac.uk) was launched in October at the Tate Modern
gallery to general acclaim. The archive offers on-line access to a large
range of films on art and artists produced in the UK since the 1950s, and is
a unique record of British and international post-war art, as well as of
documentary film-making in the UK. Currently the archive comprises a
complete database and online video streaming of all 450 films made by the
Films Department of The Arts Council England between 1953 and 1998 and
several films produced by the Arts Council's Dance Department.