Children's Film Foundation

Children's Film Foundation
Children's Media Foundation
Formation1951 (1951)
TypeFilm and television production
HeadquartersLondon, England
Director
Greg Childs OBE
Board Chair
Anna Home OBE
Key people
Websitewww.thechildrensmediafoundation.org
Formerly called
Children’s Film and Television Foundation

The Children's Film Foundation (CFF) is a non-profit organisation which made films and other media for children in the United Kingdom. Originally it made films to be shown as part of children's Saturday morning matinée cinema programming. The films typically were about 55 minutes long. Over time, the organisation's role has broadened and its name changed, first to the Children's Film and Television Foundation (CFTF) in 1982, and later to the Children's Media Foundation (CMF) in 2011. It continues as an advisory body, campaigning to develop TV and film production for children.

History

The Children's Film Foundation was formed in 1951[1] following the Wheare report that criticised the suitability of American programming for Saturday morning pictures.[2][3][4] Mary Field was appointed chief executive.[2]

The Foundation was initially funded by the Eady Levy (a voluntary tax on box office receipts), receiving 5% of the Levy with an initial budget of £60,000 per year.[2][3] The Foundation made around six films a year,[5] with most lasting less than an hour and shot in less than two weeks.[3] Filming was mainly carried out during the school holidays, with the child cast supported by adult performers including Ronnie Barker, David Lodge, Patricia Hayes and Sydney Tafler, who were paid minimum rates set by Equity.[3]

From 1953, the Foundation released each film to a different cinema circuit which was able to show the film for a year before passing it to the next circuit. With the film distributed through the four main circuits (Associated British, Gaumont, Odeon Cinemas and independents), the film would be on release for five years before being removed from release for a year and then re-released again.[4] Following changes to the circuits and distribution patterns, in 1963, Gaumont and Odeon were grouped under the Rank circuit and the independent circuit was divided in two to retain four distribution groups.[6]

In 1955, 1,915 cinemas in the UK screened children's matinées, of which 1,400 showed films produced by the Children's Film Foundation.[3] As the CFF was a not-for-profit organisation, ticket prices remained at a sixpence (2½p) until 1971.[3]

Frank Richard Wells (1903–82), second son of H. G. Wells and Amy Catherine Robbins, was a main executive at the CFF.[7]

Some of the films were critically recognised, winning awards at the Cannes Film Festival, Moscow Film Festival and Venice Film Festival.[2][5] The films were also popular on TV in the United States, and at 16mm showings in public libraries in Germany, Japan, Canada and South Africa.[5]

By 1979, attendances for Saturday morning matinées were dwindling and the Foundation's annual funding was reduced from £530,000 a year to £330,000.[5] The Eady Levy was abolished in 1985 and the Foundation made a few further films in the mid-1980s, by which time it had been renamed the Children's Film and Television Foundation (CFTF) in 1982.[8][9][10] It ceased operations in 1987 and its final production was Just Ask for Diamond (1988).[3][11]

Many of its films, dating back to the 1960s, continued to be shown on the BBC during the 1980s, in the Friday Film Special strand.[3]

In 2011, the CFTF changed its name to become the Children's Media Foundation (CMF),[1] and has since lobbied producers at the BBC on funding issues for children's TV.[12] In 2023, the CMF sent a briefing document to politicians including the Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer urging that streaming services offer “quality children’s content” from the UK.[13] The Foundation has called for Netflix and YouTube to pay a levy of their profits to create a £100m fund for children’s programming.[14][15]

Anna Home OBE currently serves as Board Chair of the CMF.[16] In July 2026, Helen McAleer was appointed Editorial Director of the Children’s Media Conference (CMC).[17]

Legacy

The CFF's films include early performances from prominent British actors including Phil Collins, Susan George, Michael Crawford, Carol White, Richard O'Sullivan and David Hemmings.[2][3]

Film titles also include early work from several notable directors, such as Don Sharp, James Hill, Don Chaffey, John Guillermin, and Kay Mander.[2] It also recruited more established directors; most notably, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, with The Boy Who Turned Yellow (1972), the last film they produced as partners.[2]

In June 2012, the British Film Institute (BFI) acquired the worldwide rights to the CFF collection, which is now preserved at the BFI National Archive.[10][18][19]

Noel Brown later wrote of the foundation: “unlike Hollywood co-productions, which are forced to reflect international norms in pursuing a global audience, its films unambiguously reflected and recapitulated British norms and values.”[20]

Robert Shail described the CFF as having "a deeply held conviction that childhood was a formative stage of development that was open to external influence, which films could positively impact to help shape future citizens for the better."[11]

Selected filmography

Sources

  • Rank Film Library 16mm Catalogue, 1978, (pp183–193)

References

  1. 1 2 "The Children's Media Foundation Limited overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". gov.uk. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Parkinson, David (30 October 2018). "5 things to know about the Children's Film Foundation". BFI. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Roberts, Andrew (September 9, 2010). "How the Children's Film Foundation once dominated Saturday morning cinema". The Guardian.
  4. 1 2 Manning, S. (2017). "The Children's Film Foundation: History and Legacy". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 37 (2): 343–345. doi:10.1080/01439685.2017.1308140.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Falk, Quentin (27 October 1979). "CFF faces new threat to survival". Screen International. p. 20.
  6. ↑ "Formula Change For Brit. Kid Pix". Variety. 18 January 1963. p. 23. Retrieved 16 June 2024 – via Internet Archive.
  7. ↑ Shail, Robert (March 21, 2016). The Children's Film Foundation: History and Legacy. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781844578603.
  8. ↑ "Children's Film and Television Foundation". The Children’s Media Foundation (CMF). Retrieved 2026-07-22.
  9. ↑ "BFI Screenonline: Film Studios and Industry Bodies - Children's Film Foundation (1951-87)". www.screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
  10. 1 2 Thorpe, Vanessa (2012-06-16). "Cache of children's films that gave stars their big break is set for new release". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
  11. 1 2 Shail, Robert (2022). "Changing Conceptions of Childhood in the Work of the Children's Film Foundation". In Brown, Noel (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Children's Film. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190939359.013.11.
  12. ↑ Peppiatt, Anthony S. (2021). "The Children's Film Foundation: an Investigation Into the Decline and Fall of a Unique British Institution". Nottingham Trent University.
  13. ↑ Goldbart, Max (2023-12-06). "Children's TV In Crisis: Netflix, YouTube, BBC & Others To Be Summoned To Summit Exploring How To Resuscitate Genre In The UK". Deadline. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
  14. ↑ Sherwin, Adam (2025-10-04). "BBC points Blue Peter viewers to YouTube to save children's TV crisis". The i Paper. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
  15. ↑ Hall, Rachel (2025-11-11). "Children being 'sedated' by algorithmic YouTube content, MPs hear". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
  16. ↑ Home, Anna (2022-02-04). "'Cultural Vandalism' of Kids' TV Will Affect the Wider Audience, Says U.K. Children's Media Foundation Chief". Variety. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
  17. ↑ Skwigly (2026-07-22). "Helen McAleer appointed Editorial Director of CMC". Skwigly Animation Magazine. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
  18. ↑ Sandwell, Ian (15 June 2012). "BFI acquire Children's Film Foundation catalogue". Screen. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
  19. ↑ Kemp, Stuart (2012-06-14). "British Film Institute Takes Children's Film Foundation World Rights". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
  20. ↑ Brown, Noel (2016). British Children's Cinema: From The Thief of Baghdad to Wallace and Gromit. Cinema and Society Series. London: I.B.Tauris. pp. 104–105. ISBN 978-1784535759.
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