Did you know that you might have just played a helping hand in shaping some of the biggest British blockbusting movies over the last 20 years through the British Film Institute?

Well, you have, you just didn’t know it.

By playing the National Lottery, not only are you in with a chance of changing your own life by winning a life-changing amount of money, you might have just helped donate funding to some of the largest and most successful projects in British film history, some of the biggest household films watched today and award-winning movies and evidently, in the process of that, changing the life of someone else in through their Life Changing initiative.

Camelot and the National Lottery Company have been working with the British Film Institute since 1994 to fund a large number of projects, allowing people to gain a foothold in the film industry and helping promote the film industry to the heights it is at today, winning numerous awards and awarding more than £460 million in funding to the industry. The British film industry has never been in a more prosperous state.

Since funding began more than 20 years ago, 13,366 grants have been awarded to UK film projects, both to well-known blockbusters, and to young aspiring filmmakers just starting out in their careers, helping pave the way for young and old to take that next step in film development, taking ideas from the inside of peoples heads to the big screens.

Not only that, but 2,377 places at the BFI Film Academy for the next young generation of filmmakers have also been granted, so look out in the future for some BFI Film Academy graduates bringing films your way.

Have a look at this cool video below, showcasing just a few of the successful films funded through help from the lottery, including Oscar winning The King’s Speech which received just over £1 million, becoming the most successful independent British Film of all time, as well as several other well known films you just might have seen in the cinema yourself:

If you thought that The King’s Speech was the only award-winning project through this initiative, you would be wrong. Lottery-funded films have won an impressive 14 Oscars, 32 BAFTAS, and many more awards – with all money being re-invested into making more British films and creating jobs supporting the British film industry.

With this initiative showing no signs of slowing down, and the British film industry looking in better shape than ever, it is no surprise that more and more of films made through our own homemade talents are picking up awards and more consideration than ever.

So, next time you head off to buy your lottery ticket, have your fingers crossed, not only for you, but for the project you might just be helping fund through your generosity and that of the National Lottery – the future of British film is in safe hands, it’s in our hands.