Channel 4’s film channel, Film4, will relaunch as a free service on Sunday 23rd July at 9pm, with the free-to-air premiere of Sofia Coppola’s Oscar-winning film, Lost in Translation (2003), starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson.
The channel will screen a mix of major Hollywood films with great British films, both new and old, alongside timeless classics and cult favourites.
Film4 is relaunching with a continuing commitment to showcasing British films and filmmakers, with one in four of all films transmitting on the channel coming from the UK. On launch night, following Lost in Translation, the highly acclaimed British gangster film and FilmFour production, Sexy Beast, is scheduled to lead the roll out of home grown films.
The new free-to-air Film4 has secured carriage on all major digital TV platforms, including BSkyB’s Freesat, meaning that some 18 million digital TV homes will be able to receive Film4 from day one, at no extra cost, making it the UK’s biggest film channel.
The new channel, which joins Channel 4, E4 and More4 on the Freeview platform, replaces existing subscription channel, FilmFour, which final day of transmission is 19th July.
Watch the Film 4 Free to Air Advert starring Ewan McGregor and Jude Dench dressed as a tomato and a lobster, Christian Slater and Ray Winstone as advertising board pasters, Mackenzie Crook and Willem Defoe as couriers, Lucy Liu as a pilot and Rhys Ifans as a door to door salesman. The feature is directed by Kevin Spacey.
Film 4 - Free to Air Advert, Real Player, High
Film 4 - Free to Air Advert, Real Player, Medium
Film 4 - Free to Air Advert, WMP, High
Film 4 - Free to Air Advert, WMP, Medium
Film 4 - Free to Air Advert, QuickTime, High
Film 4 - Free to Air Advert, QuickTime, Medium
To coincide with the relaunch the film channel is being re-branded as Film4 and has a new on-air look, although the channel’s editorial policy will not change and it will continue to offer a more diverse range of films than any other UK film channel under the promotional tagline ‘great films you know and great films you don’t’.
Channel 4 Director of TV, Kevin Lygo said: “Channel 4’s unrivalled reputation in film is built on almost a quarter of a century of showing and making quality films – we’ve made a major contribution to broadening audience tastes and remain a major financier and producer of films and a showcase for the best of British and international cinema.
“Film4 will continue to act as an editor of choice for its viewers, selecting its schedules on the basis of quality as well as box office appeal and helping the audience get under the skin of the film industry. Massively increasing Film4’s distribution and making it freely available to all will help maintain and protect Channel 4’s stake in British film for the next quarter of a century.”
The new free-to-air Film4 will screen six films a day, with a new film starting every two hours between 3pm and 3am. Classic films earlier in the day will give way to modern Hollywood output and the best of US and UK independent cinema in peak and foreign language and cult cinema late night.
The channel will also premiere key titles financed and co-produced by Channel 4’s film division, Film Four Productions, and will showcase the best of British and European and International cinema. It will programme seasons, events and short form programming, which are a successful feature of the FilmFour pay-TV service.
The schedule will be stripped daily and includes regular weekly strands, so that viewers can expect to find similar kinds of films in the same slots. Highlights of the first month’s schedule on the relaunched Film4 include:
9pm: big, broad-appeal films, including seasons and themed slots:
· Launch highlights include network premieres of Lost in Translation and FilmFour-funded The Motorcycle Diaries. Hollywood hits include films like Zoolander, The Italian Job and The Shawshank Redemption while modern classics feature Elizabeth and FilmFour-funded Secrets and Lies and Four Weddings and a Funeral.
· Double Take is a recurring weekly feature in which two different films with a strong connection are shown across Monday and Tuesday nights.
· In the future, 9pm will also include major seasons and events, including premieres.
11pm: cooler Hollywood films and the best of independent cinema
· A regular strand, Films to See Before You Die, will showcase films that have passed our rigorous quality test including Apocalypse Now, Trainspotting and Kagemusha.
· Horror strand Saturday Night Shocks will showcase the best of the horror genre and includes the UK TV premiere of Wolf Creek and the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
· The British Connection places British film in the spotlight with FilmFour productions, including the UK TV premiere of Festival and Dead Man’s Shoes, and other British productions like The Football Factory and Bright Young Things.
Late night:
· The channel will feature the best in international, European and arthouse cinema with titles including Infernal Affairs, Head On and 8 Women. Highlights in the first month include a celebration of the centenary of the birth of Roberto Rossellini with a short season of his most acclaimed films.
· Film4 will continue to show more foreign-language films than any other film channel.
Daytime and early evening:
· From mid afternoon the channel screens classics like Brief Encounter, Cleopatra and Oliver Twist – early evening sees favourites for all audiences like Chariots of Fire, The Madness of King George; and Strictly Ballroom.
· Daytime highlights include seven classic animations from Japan’s Studio Ghibli, including Princess Mononoke and Kiki's Delivery Service
The new Film4 channel will carry advertising breaks within films for the first time and Channel 4 is also planning the launch of a FilmFour branded video-on-demand subscription service on various media platforms – including broadband and cable – to follow later in the year.
On the eve of Film4’s launch, Channel 4 will show the specially commissioned 50 Films to See before You Die (see separate release) as voted for by a panel of film experts including Lord Puttnam (producer), Jason Solomons (film critic), Jonathan Rutter (film expert), Tessa Ross (Head of FilmFour) and Karen Krisanovich (film critic).
