YOUNG people in Bradford are being offered the opportunity to boost their chances of a career in the UK film industry.

The British Film Institute Academy returns to the city this autumn, helping 16-19-year-olds to develop skills in film-making.

Events include a drop-in taster event at Bradford’s Light cinema on Saturday, September 1 from 10.30am-12.30pm, featuring screenings of Academy films and the chance to meet former participants and tutors. This is the first time The Light Cinemas, which opened Bradford’s newest cinema in The Broadway in May, have supported the BFI Academy, joining existing partners Reel Solutions, Bradford College and the University of Bradford.

The UK film industry is booming, with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport announcing in 2017 that creative industries grew at four times the rate of the UK workforce as a whole - employing almost two million people, up five per cent on figures for 2016. Ben Roberts, Director BFI Film Fund, said: “We’ve got a brilliant film industry in the UK. It’s growing and employs a lot of people. The BFI want to make sure that we find enough young people coming through to help us make our industry prosper - it’s something the Film Academy does brilliantly,” he said.

Mr Roberts said BFI Film Academies are on the frontline when it comes to developing a new, more diverse generation of film professionals. According to DCMS figures, BAME representation in the UK film and TV sectors up by 40per cent from 2015-17.

A participant on last year’s BFI Film Academy in Bradford described it as “the best experience for a young person who wants to lead diversity changes in the film industry. The BFI has given us the opportunity to show that people of colour can make a difference.”

Film and TV professionals who have run BFI workshops in the past include visual effects producer Dan Barrow, who worked on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

The BFI Academy in Bradford will run some Saturdays in October and November, with a production week from Monday, October 29 to Saturday, November 3 in various city centre locations.

* For more information visit reelsolutions.co.uk