Film, television and video games

BAFTA has announced its 2019 Video Game Awards nominations, including several for one of last year's most-anticipated video games, Red Dead Redemption 2.

Developed by Rockstar Games, a collaborative effort across its international studios including in Britain, Red Dead Redemption 2 is nominated for Best Game, as well as awards for British Game, Artistic Achievement, Audio Achievement, Narrative, and for Roger Clark's performance as protagonist Arthur Morgan.

The other British Game nominees are:

William Fowler, curator of Artists' Moving Image at the British Film Institute, was invited to China to give a series of talks on the BFI/LUX This is Now touring programme. He tells us more about the trip and about the appetite for artists' moving image in China.

British Council is looking to build connections between the UK creative sector and young artists in Sub-Saharan Africa.

British Council is actively seeking expressions of interest for Art Connects Us from UK-based organisations, curators and programmers in these fields:

• architecture
• dance
• design
• fashion
• film
• literature
• theatre
• visual arts

Expressions of interest will be accepted until 10 March 2019.

Japan's increasing interest in the UK's creative industries has been described as a "love affair" by the UK Government as exports continue to rise in takings since 2015. Following the January visit of Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, figures have been revealed that show film, music and video games from the UK are increasingly popular among the Japanese.

February sees both the BAFTAs (British Academy FIlm and Television Awards) and Oscars (Academy Awards) ceremonies take place, marking the apex and closure of film awards season. As on every year, attention goes to those British hopefuls whose talents and creativity is highlighted.

Channel 4 and BFI-supported The Favourite has been nominated across numerous categories, with Olivia Colman - who plays Queen Elizabeth II in the third season of Netflix show The Crown - nominated for Best Actress at both Academy Awards and BAFTAs for her performance as Queen Anne.

Six boroughs in London will receive over £11 million in funds to support artists and small creative businesses as the city’s first Creative Enterprise Zones (CEZ).

The CEZs are expected to create 3,500 new jobs, 1,000 new training, job and education opportunities for residents, and over 40,000 square metres of new affordable workspace.

The boroughs named as CEZs are:

The Department of International Trade (DIT) will be taking an interactive/immersive mission in March 2019 to South by Southwest (SXSW), the leading industry and public event for music, film, interactive and tech.

The ten-day show, based in Austin, Texas, is set to attract around 300,000 visitors between 8-17 March 2019.

From entrepreneurs and investors to cutting edge digital disruptors, it will give organisations the chance to demonstrate their creativity, expertise, technology and innovation while making contacts to foster business development and professional growth.

A report commissioned by the British Film Institute (BFI), Screen Business, analyses the imapact of screen industry tax reliefs, including Video Games Tax Reflief and Childrens Television Tax Relief for the first time.

The report shows that the UK film and TV industry generated a record £7.9 billion in 2016. This figure was helped by government tax relief of £632 million, which also helped drive around £3.16 billion into the creation of films, high-end TV and video games. Tax take from this activity reached £2 billion.

Jeremy Wright, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), spoke about the "calling card" of creativity at the Creative Industries Federation International Summit on 9 October 2018.

Among the praise he gave were statistics on UK recording artists acounting for 8 of the top 10 artist albums in 2017, UK film earning a sixth of total film revenue worldwide and being the largest publisher of physical books in the world.

The UK government has awarded £10 million funding to set up a national centre for immersive storytelling.

The StoryFutures Academy will pioneer next-generation storytelling, looking to harness technologies such as augmented, virtual and mixed reality as well as smart devices and artificial intelligence.