Approximately 50 speakers considered the role of cinema and televsion in national life and minority culture, addressing questions of cultural identity and the search for new markets and audiences in periods of economic and political change. These developments were placed in the context of World Trade Organisation talks and the tension between trade liberalisation and cultural diversity.

Two films were screened: The Terrorist (Santosh Sivan, India, 1998) and The Circle (Jafar Panahi, Iran, 2001). Seminar sessions included two specialist panels entitled 'Nations and Regions: A UK Case Study' and 'Television Programme Format Trade in the Asia Pacific Region', as well as presentations by academics and others from institutions worldwide, including:

Development Issues

Culture.

The international trade in film was established in the early part of the twentieth century. By the start of the twenty-first century, this trade began to take on an increasingly global flavour through television programmes and a re-working of the concept of 'export' in the era of satellite and internet.

The AHRB Centre for British Film and Television Studies, created in October, 2000 with five years' funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Board, aims to enhance and extend the recent growth in high level academic research on British film and television. The Centre is a partnership between Birkbeck College, University of London; University of Brighton - South East Film and Video Archive; British Film Institute; Central St Martins School of Art; University of Exeter - Bill Douglas Centre; Royal College of Art; Sheffield Hallam University; and University of Ulster.