THE RFN was originally established in London in 2013 by a group of film-makers, activists and academics as a collective to support the rapid growth in experimental and radical film culture at that time, primarily instigated by the rise of digital technology.

 “Our inspiration was the Independent Filmmakers Association (IFA) which ran from 1974 to 1990,” says RFN co-founder, Steve Presence, who teaches film and TV studies at Bristol University. “The IFA was an amazing organisation that helped develop British independent film culture in the 1970s and 1980s and which was involved, to a significant degree, in the emergence of Channel 4 and the work it commissioned and broadcast in the  1980s and early ’90s.

“In 2013 you could see the need and potential to bring people together who were working in aesthetically innovative or experimental ways alongside more militant activist film-makers, as well as people interested in exhibiting this work via film clubs and festivals. This is a really lively and diverse film culture but remains overwhelmingly under-resourced, marginalised and fragmented.”