Mill+ Burns Famous Film Scenes to Help BFI Preserve British Cinema

Mill+ and the BFI have collaborated to create a thought-provoking new film ‘Film is Fragile’, encouraging people to support and donate to the cause of preserving and restoring the national film collection which has been looked after by the BFI National Archive since 1933. 

Mill+ were offered an open brief to create the concept and direct the fundraising film encapsulating the BFI’s mission, whilst also demonstrating our shared passion for the preservation and promotion of film within the UK.

The film features a montage of numerous clips from classics to cult favourites and contemporary cinema; referencing the BFI’s role in supporting emerging British talent and film culture as a whole. 

The concept behind the fundraising film plays on the idea that stories, not just films, deserve to be preserved; encouraging the viewer to imagine their favourite films literally being burnt before their very eyes.

Directed by Mill+ ‘s Carl Addy, he explains how the team approached the project as a whole and the inspiration behind the burning film motif, “The concept for this film isn’t simply about the preservation of the physical celluloid but, more importantly, it is about the protection and sanctity of the soul of film, which is storytelling.”

Carl goes on to explain the challenges of this exciting brief, “Our biggest challenge was getting clearance on such a wide range of footage, it was a mammoth research task as we needed to trawl through so much footage. We are very grateful for the filmmakers, whose generosity helped us create this film; allowing us to pay testament to the worthy cause that the BFI are promoting. It was like piecing together a giant jigsaw puzzle using footage from some of the best films in British cinema. 

Our talented design team then got to work on coming up with the correct film burn language.”

The film will be shown during the BFI London Film Festival at BFI Southbank and on a wide range of online platforms.