Unlocking Film Heritage needs your vote now

A digital film archive hosted at Ballymoney Museum is in line for a prestigious accolade after reaching the finals of the National Lottery Awards.

Unlocking Film Heritage: Northern Ireland on Film, run by Northern Ireland Screen, is competing against six others in the Best Heritage Project category. They beat off stiff competition from over 1,300 organisations, a record number of entries, to reach the public voting stage in this year’s National Lottery Awards – the annual search for the UK’s favourite Lottery-funded projects.

The project with the most votes will be crowned the winner and receive a £5,000 cash prize to spend on their project, an iconic National Lottery Awards trophy and attend a star-studded glittering Awards ceremony to be broadcast on BBC One in September.

The BFI’s Unlocking Film Heritage project is one of the biggest film archive schemes ever undertaken, aiming to digitise and make available 10,000 titles from across the UK by the end of 2017. As part of this, Northern Ireland Screen has been curating and making accessible film materials to tell the region’s unique stories for audiences old and new, spanning from 1897 to the present day.

Francis Jones, Digital Archive Officer, Northern Ireland Screen said: “We are delighted that our work in Northern Ireland for the Unlocking Film Heritage project has been recognised through this nomination for a National Lottery Award.

“National Lottery funding has allowed us to preserve parts of Northern Ireland history, society and culture that would otherwise have been lost. It’s about capturing memories and stories and being able to share these across the region. We hope the public will get behind us and vote for us in the Best Heritage Project category.”

Jackie O’Sullivan, from the National Lottery Awards added: “Unlocking Film Heritage: Northern Ireland on Film has worked very hard to become a finalist and they now need your support. So get voting!”

To vote for Unlocking Film Heritage: Northern Ireland on Film, please go to lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards or telephone 0844 836 9703 and follow the campaign on twitter: hashtag #NLAwards. Voting runs for four weeks from 9am on June 29 until midnight on July 27.