• Six UK Film Council-backed films and a further nine made with British involvement selected for screening
• 190 British films for sale in the market
• UK Film Centre supporting British delegates with a packed events programme

Six films backed by the UK Film Council have been selected for screening in the official sections of the festival, including Mike Leigh’s Another Year (In Competition), Hideo Nakata’s Chatroom (Un Certain Regard), Stephen Frears’s Tamara Drewe (Out of Competition), Craig McCall’s CAMERAMAN: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (Cannes Classics), Alicia Duffy’s All Good Children (Directors’ Fortnight), and Scott Graham’s short film Native Son (Critics’ Week).

A further nine films made with British involvement will screen, including Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (In Competition) co-produced by UK company Illuminations Films, Doug Liman’s Fair Game (In Competition), co-produced by British writer/producer Jez Butterworth (author of the hit play Jerusalem) and co-written by Jez and his brother John Henry Butterworth; Woody Allen’s You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (Out of Competition) which shot entirely on location in London; British director Sophie Fiennes’s Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow (Special Screenings); British documentary filmmaker Lucy Walker’s Countdown to Zero (Special Screenings); Stephen Kijak’s Stones In Exile (Directors’ Fortnight), produced by UK Oscar®-winning documentary company Passion Pictures; Alois Di Leo’s hand drawn short The Boy Who Wanted To Be A Lion (Critics’ Week); Jens Blank’s animated short Cooked (Cinefondation); and Ridley Scott’s opening night film Robin Hood, filmed at Shepperton Studios and on location around the UK.
The place for anyone seeking information on British films, filmmakers, distributors or sales companies during the festival is the UK Film Centre, open from Wednesday 12 May – Friday 21 May. Located in the International Village, the centre is run by the UK Film Council and offers business facilities and a full programme of events for delegates and the media.

This year’s UK Film Centre events programme includes:

• The Secrets of my Success: Oscar®-nominated producer and Quentin Tarantino collaborator Lawrence Bender (Inglourious Basterds, Pulp Fiction) in conversation with UK producer Laura Hastings-Smith (Chatroom – Un Certain Regard, Hunger);
• Andy Serkis, the ‘Lord of Performance Capture’, discusses acting in the digital age with Time Out film editor Dave Calhoun;
• Russian director and Special Grand Prix winner Andrei Konchalovsky (Siberiade, Runaway Train) talks to Dave Calhoun about the transition into 3D filmmaking and his latest project, The Nutcracker in 3D;
• Director Stephen Kijak and producers John Battsek and Victoria Pearman discuss their latest documentary, Stones in Exile (Directors’ Fortnight) with broadcaster and journalist Jason Solomons;
• Women in Film and Television’s Kate Kinninmont in conversation with leading UK producer Alison Owen, who has two films in the official selection, Chatroom and Tamara Drewe;
• British director Sophie Fiennes talks about the making of her new film Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow (Special Screenings);
• Screenwriter Moira Buffini talks to Sight & Sound editor Nick James about working with Stephen Frears and her first feature script Tamara Drewe (Out of Competition), based on Posy Simmonds’s graphic novel;
• Filmmaker Craig McCall speaks to The Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw about making Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (Cannes Classics), and fitting a remarkable career spanning nine decades into a 90-minute documentary;
• UK director Alicia Duffy (All Good Children, Directors’ Fortnight), talks to Women in Film and Television’s Kate Kinninmont about moving from shorts to features and the merits of mentoring.

Other key events taking place at the UK Film Centre include:

• An opportunity to hear about the UK Film Council’s new Film Fund with Head of the Film Fund Tanya Seghatchian and executives Chris Collins, Lizzie Francke and Natascha Wharton;
• Finding the best festival strategies for films with Geoffrey Gilmore of Tribeca Film Festival, producer John Battsek (Stones in Exile), filmmaker Lucy Walker (Countdown to Zero) and distributor Andy Whittaker (Dogwoof) and Sheffield Doc/Fest programmer Hussain Currimbhoy;
• Director Lucy Walker, producer Lawrence Bender and Participant Media discuss the role of the filmmaker and distributor in reaching audiences of eco-themed films, with Dogwoof (The Age of Stupid) and Bright Green Pictures;
• How to shoot for an eco-friendly film industry, with Screen East, South West Screen and producer Lawrence Bender (Countdown to Zero);
• How a festival line-up is forged with festival directors John Cooper (Sundance Film Festival), Rutger Wolfson (International Film Festival Rotterdam), Sandra Hebron (London Film Festival) and Christoph Terhechte (Berlin Forum), producer Tobias Morgan (The Auteurs Garage) and director Kolton Lee, and chaired by Nick Roddick, Course Director for the London Film School’s MA in Film Curating;
• Heat Film Editor Charles Gant looks at genre, audiences and consumer trends with distributors LoveFilm, Optimum Releasing and Revolver Entertainment;
• A look at the advantages of UK and Scandinavian cross-border collaboration with producers and funders including the Icelandic Film Centre, Filmpool Nord, Film Commission Norway, Film Fyn and Film I Vast;
• Wendy Mitchell from Screen International discusses the future of the British film industry with BFI London Film Festival Artistic Director Sandra Hebron, producer Gail Egan (Another Year – In Competition), finance expert Christine Corner (Grant Thornton), exhibitor Clare Binns (City Screen) and funder Jane Wright (BBC Films);
• All you need to know about micro-budget filmmaking with Damon Wise (Empire magazine), Mark Herbert (Warp Films), Film London, South West Screen, Vision+Media, Left Films and E1 Entertainment;
• A discussion on 3D technology, 3D TV and multiplatform releases with experts from Curzon Artificial Eye, Inition, nWave and Universal Pictures International and Screen International;
• A look at how independents can produce competitive 3D films without studio-sized budgets with Vertigo Films (StreetDance 3D), Reliance Mediaworks, Inition, Screen International and director Andrei Konchalovsky (The Nutcracker in 3D);
• Producers Julia Taylor Stanley and Harriet Rees from Screen South’s CINE EURO programme discuss co-productions with producer Pippa Cross (Ghost World), Jo Nolan (Screen South) and members of the Cine Regio regional funding network;
• How to ensure filmmakers secure revenues as rights, negotiations and revenue collection get more complicated, with commentator Mike Gubbins, Freeway Entertainment Group, Hill Dickinson, Independent Film Company and Revolver Entertainment;
• The chance for international producers and writers to meet some of the UK’s new wave of directors and see their work, including Mat Whitecross (Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll), Stuart Hazeldine (Exam) and Oliver Blackburn (Donkey Punch), chaired by Empire’s Damon Wise;
• Shorts filmmakers talk about how they got their films before the selectors for Cannes, the American Academy® Awards and BAFTAs with Rebecca Mark-Lawson from short film experts Lifesize Pictures;
• A chance for ten pre-selected filmmakers to pitch projects to a panel of funders, sales agents and financiers organised by film agency Screen South;
• How to build new partnerships across media industries and extend the value of stories and filmed content in a Power to the Pixel panel discussion;
• How the independent film business is Skillset debates the challenges facing the independent film business, including new distribution systems, the changing film value chain and collapse of windows, with experts from the Film London Production Finance Market, Cinea and Revolver;
• Pitching trailers and their projects with sales and finance experts including Bankside Films/Head Gear, The National Film and Video Foundation and American Cinema International;
• Co-production opportunities for UK and European producers and the benefits of creative collaboration being run by Skillset;
• How to get your short film on British cinemas screens through the Virgin Media Shorts competition and win the funding for your next film;
• Advice from UK Film Council experts on British film qualification, the Cultural Test, co-production treaties and shooting in the UK;
• Career coaching on how to maximise networking opportunities in Cannes;
• Presentation of ARRI’s latest digital camera technology ALEXA;
• Legal surgeries with law firm Hill Dickinson and finance advice with specialists RSM Tenon; and
• Screenings of new short films by British talent in the Short Film Corner videothéque, located in the Palais des Festivals.

The UK Film Centre’s partners are the British Film Institute, Scottish Screen, Skillset, Film London, Screen East, Screen South, South West Screen, Vision+Media, Hill Dickinson, Metropolis International Sales, Midnite Express, Prescience, RSM Tenon, Screen International, Sheffield Doc/Fest, Virgin Media Shorts, Women in Film and Television and Kays.

Other services provided by the UK Film Centre include:
• an information desk, a free message service for UK registered delegates with the latest news on British films and filmmakers in Cannes;
• a cybercafé with free wi-fi access;
• computer terminals with free broadband internet access

www.ukfilmcentre.org.uk