The words ‘independent film’ and ‘the National Lottery’ don’t normally go together; but they probably should. In a bid to highlight the mounds of cash that the Lottery diverts from the pockets of hopeless optimists to the cameras of budding film-makers, this short film suggests how one of Britain’s best loved flicks might have turned out without NL funding.

The Dark Lord rises.

Perhaps they can move it to a Pirate! ship?

Holy pineapple chunks, Batman – it’s a brand new feature! Today and on every weekend until the Earth is consumed by fire and ice, we will be bringing you the pick of the week’s film gossip in a format so accessible, democratic and toothsome you might well mistake it for Peaches Geldof’s ladygarden. It’s time to round up the news…

They think it’s all over. It is now.

With the 8th annual London Short Film Festival done and dusted, Best For Film caught up with Ruth Paxton – winner of the festival’s UK Film Council award for Best Film.

Five London teens make friends in an online chatroom and inspire each other to take drastic steps with their lives. The problem? One of them likes nothing more than inciting people to achieve the suicide he yearns for but dare not undertake himself. Suspense thriller from Hideo Nakata ( Dark Water).

Director and gourmand Michael Winner has expressed his relief at the proposed closure of the UK Film Council.

Actor and director Clint Eastwood has attacked the Treasury for threatening the future of the UK Film Council.

Dozens of high-profile British actors have condemned the proposed attack on the UK Film Council.