Member Article

Global business commits to North East by partnering with international film festival

Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, an international celebration of the art of film set in the border town of Berwick upon Tweed, today announces its partnership with global strategic outsourcing business Mitie.

Each year since 2005, Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival has transformed the town into one big screen through a series of film premieres, site-specific installations, and live events in a number of locations around Berwick and along the town walls.

The festival now celebrates its 10th edition and will benefit from the support of Mitie in what is the Festival’s largest corporate funder to date.

The firm who have been working in the region since August 2013 as part of a scheme to better insulate council-owned homes, see this partnership as the next step in cementing their commitment to the north east.

Ben Jenkinson, regional manager of Mitie, said: “We see Berwick as a cornerstone of our north east business, and Berwick Film & Media Arts festival is an integral part of the cultural and community landscape.

“Since starting work in the north east, we’ve been committed to sustaining and energising the community and the economy; be that through our insulation work, our creation of jobs in the region and now through supporting the best-loved and largest event in Berwick.”

The Festival, which takes place from 17-21 September will this year use its theme, Border Crossing, to take audiences on a journey, setting out to cross and transcend borders in all directions, exploring border identities all over the world.

The announcement of Mitie as a major funding partner for the Festival, alongside Arts Council England and the British Film Institute, is somewhat of a holy trinity for the Festival as it looks to cement its roots as an art, film and community based event and comes after winning two awards over the past month - for ‘Best Community Event of the Year’ at the What’s On Where Awards and for ‘Best Event Northumberland’ at the Journal Culture Awards.

Of the partnership, Melanie Iredale said, “We are thrilled to be supported by Mitie for this, our 10th edition. As a Festival we strive to be more and more ambitious each year, and to secure the support of such a well-known international organisation has certainly energised and invigorated the team even further!”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jon Corbett .