Bradford Council, the city's highly regarded National Media Museum and Screen Yorkshire led the bid to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), and a decision is due in the next six to 12 months.

Should Bradford be successful it will join Unesco's Creative Cities Network, which includes celebrated cities such as Edinburgh as the City of Literature, Berlin, Buenos Aires and Montreal as Cities of Design and Bologna and Seville as Cities of Music.

Bradford's City of Film board was headed by Steve Abbott who produced hits including A Fish Called Wanda and Brassed Off.

The bid, which has been two years in the making, explained Bradford's history and heritage, sets the scene of Bradford becoming a City of Film and explained how acquiring the status would boost economic regeneration and renewal.

The bid also demonstrated the city's film-related strengths, which include:

Being a popular location for filming.

Historical links to the production, distribution and commercialisation of films since before the First World War.

Experience in hosting film festivals such as the annual International Film Festival and other movie-related events.

Collaborative initiatives at a local and regional level.

Film heritage in the form of archives and museums such as the National Media Museum.

Film-making schools and training centres, especially through the University of Bradford's School of Informatics.

Schemes to encourage knowledge-sharing on foreign films such as the annual Bite the Mango festival where the
film 1920 premiered this September.

The three organisations leading the bid have been helped by a wide range of organisations and individuals including Pace plc and Simula Media Services at the University of Bradford.

Backers hope that gaining City of Film status would see more film-related events taking place in the city thereby boosting the local economy.

It would also increase employment opportunities, increase visitor numbers to the district and the National Media Museum and raise Bradford's profile.

Tony Earnshaw, artistic director of Bradford International Film Festival, said: "Over the years Bradford bizarrely has got more of a history of film-making than most other cities in the country. It's bigger than Newcastle, it's bigger than Birmingham and Manchester.''

And he had no doubts that Bradford would benefit if it secured Unesco recognition. "Once you get that status you are obliged to continue showcasing the city as a 'city of film' so the ball keeps rolling for the future.''

Bradford Council's executive member for environment and culture, Coun Anne Hawkesworth, said: "After a lot of hard work we have submitted a compelling bid to Unesco which we feel outlines all the excellent benefits Bradford has and how it deserves to be recognised as the first City of Film."

National Media Museum director, Colin Philpott, said: "Working within the context of an international City of Film will enable us to make Bradford an even more important film centre on the world stage with benefits for film makers, film goers and film students."

Screen Yorkshire chief executive, Sally Joynson, said: "Screen Yorkshire is proud to support Bradford's City of Film Unesco bid. Being part of the Unesco Creative Cities Network will highlight Bradford's historic role in the development of film and the city's unique contribution to Yorkshire's thriving film culture."