City of Film

Galway Bay

UNESCO's City of Film project is part of the wider Creative Cities Network.

Film is one of seven creative fields in the Network, the others: Crafts and Folk Art, Design, Gastronomy, Literature, Media Arts, and Music. ^[1]

Criteria

The Colosseum in Rome

To be approved as a City of Film, cities need to meet a number of criteria set by UNESCO. ^[2]

Designated UNESCO Cities of Film share similar characteristics:

• important infrastructure related to cinema, e.g. film studios and film landscapes/environments
• continuous or proven links to the production, distribution, and commercialisation of films
• experience in hosting film festivals, screenings, and other film-related events
• collaborative initiatives at a local, regional, and international level
• film heritage in the form of archives, museums, private collections, and/or film institutes
• film making schools and training centres
• effort in disseminating films produced and/or directed locally or nationally
• initiatives to encourage knowledge-sharing on foreign films

About the cities

Sydney Opera House

Bradford became the first City of Film in 2009, with Sydney joining in 2010. ^{[3] [4]} Sydney is home to Fox Studios Australia, the studio that brought The Matrix trilogy , The Great Gatsby , and The Wolverine to life. Its "pristine beaches" and "lush mountains" can also provide a backdrop for location shooting. ^[5]

Busan hosts an annual International Film Festival and is a "standard-setter" in the film world. ^[6]

The Arnolfini in Bristol

Bristol is home to the Academy award-winning Aardman Animations. It is also home to The Bottle Yard Studios and the BBC Natural History Unit. ^{[7] [8]} Bristol is "packed with history and full of character," Yamagata is a "pleasant, bustling rural capital." ^{[9] [10]}

Yamagata hosts every two years an International Documentary Film Festival.

Potsdam is home to Babelsberg Studio, the largest film studio in Germany. It is also home to Film Park of Babelsberg and Film University of Babelsberg.

Mumbai is home to Hindi cinema.

Cities of Film

As of 2025, the three countries that have multiple Cities of Film are England, Poland, and Spain, with two each. Only Brazil has three Cities of Film.

City	Country	Year
Asaba	Nigeria	2023 [11]
Bitola	North Macedonia	2015 [12]
Bradford	United Kingdom	2009 [13]
Bristol	United Kingdom	2017 [7]
Busan	South Korea	2014 [6]
Cannes	France	2021 [14]
Cluj-Napoca	Romania	2021 [15]
Galway	Ireland	2014 [16]
Gdynia	Poland	2021 [17]
Giza	Egypt	2025 [18]
Ho Chi Minh City	Vietnam	2025 [18]
Kathmandu	Nepal	2023 [11]
Łódź	Poland	2017 [19]
Mumbai	India	2019 [20]
Ouarzazate	Morocco	2023 [11]
Penedo	Brazil	2023 [11]
Potsdam	Germany	2019 [21]
Qingdao	China	2017 [22]
Quezon City	Philippines	2025 [18]
Rome	Italy	2015 [23]
Santos	Brazil	2015 [24]
São Paulo	Brazil	2025 [18]
Sarajevo	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2019 [25]
Sofia	Bulgaria	2014 [26]
Sydney	Australia	2010 [5]
Terrassa	Spain	2017 [27]
Valladolid	Spain	2019 [28]
Vicente López	Argentina	2023 [11]
Wellington	New Zealand	2019 [29]
Yamagata	Japan	2017 [30]

See also

• Creative Cities Network
• City of Literature
• City of Music
• Design Cities
• City of Crafts and Folk Arts
• City of Gastronomy
• City of Media Arts

References

1. "Cities Join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network".
2. "The Creative Cities Network" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-12-12. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
3. Barnett, David (2019-03-15). "100 years of film in Bradford: How the West Yorkshire city became the Hollywood of the UK". The Independent. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
4. "UNESCO Creative Cities: Membership Monitoring Report" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on May 6, 2019.
5. "Sydney". Creative Cities Network. UNESCO. Archived from the original on Nov 24, 2022.
6. "Busan". Creative Cities Network. UNESCO. Archived from the original on Nov 24, 2022.
7. "Bristol". Creative Cities Network. UNESCO. Archived from the original on Mar 23, 2023.
8. "Bristol named UNESCO City of Film". UWE Bristol. 1 November 2017. Archived from the original on Nov 24, 2022.
9. "Bristol". Lonely Planet. Archived from the original on Nov 20, 2023.
10. "Yamagata". Lonely Planet. Archived from the original on May 9, 2019.
11. "55 new cities join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network on World Cities Day". UNESCO. 31 October 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
12. "Bitola". Creative Cities Network. UNESCO. Archived from the original on Dec 2, 2023.
13. "Bradford". Creative Cities Network. UNESCO. Archived from the original on May 22, 2023.
14. "Cannes". Creative Cities Network. UNESCO. Archived from the original on Oct 27, 2023.
15. "Cluj-Napoca".
16. "Galway".
17. "Gdynia".
18. "On World Cities Day 2025, the UNESCO Creative Cities Network welcomes 58 new member cities". UNESCO. 31 October 2025. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
19. "Łódź".
20. "Mumbai".
21. "Potsdam".
22. "Qingdao".
23. "Rome".
24. "Santos".
25. "Sarajevo".
26. "Sofia".
27. "Terrassa".
28. "Valladolid".
29. "Wellington".
30. "Yamagata".

External links

• The Creative Cities Network: Film (unesco.org)