The show must go off: Now Bradford's film festival scrapped after 21 years

BRADFORD'S International Film Festival, which has attracted some of the world's biggest movie stars in its two-decade history, has been scrapped, its organisers have confirmed.
The National Media Museum in BradfordThe National Media Museum in Bradford
The National Media Museum in Bradford

The city’s National Media Museum in Bradford said a review of its activities had concluded that the festival - which was suspended two years ago - will not return.

The news, confirmed to The Yorkshire Post by museum director Jo Quinton-Tulloch, comes just two days after the announcement that 400,000 historic photos would also be lost to Bradford and would be moved from the museum to the Victoria & Albert in London.

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The permanent cancellation of the film festival is a further blow to Bradford’s standing as one of only three UNESCO “Cities of Film” in the world - a title bestowed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization for being “notable in filmmaking”.

The National Media Museum in BradfordThe National Media Museum in Bradford
The National Media Museum in Bradford

Since its inception in 1995, the festival has hosted actors, directors and producers from both sides of the Atlantic and staged a number of premieres.

The museum now says it will concentrate on “other film events” including its long-established Widescreen Weekend, and will explore the possibility of establishing a games-based festival.

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In 2013 the museum was only narrowly spared closure, and Bradford councillors have been quick to attack this week’s announcements, with Conservative leader Simon Cooke calling the removal of the pictures to London “an act of cultural vandalism”.

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