The National Film Academy (NFA) was founded in 1999 and went on to launch the National Film Awards UK in 2015 as an annual awards ceremony celebrating the achievements of established and independent filmmakers, actors, actresses, casting directors, production companies, and crew who make up the motion picture industry.
All nominations and voting for the NFA are submitted and voted for by movie fans, which is similar to the now-defunct award ceremony, the Daily Mail National Film Awards, that was held between 1946–1951.
National Film Academy has as its core mission to support, develop, promote and celebrate the achievements of the motion picture industry worldwide.
The Academy has over 275,000 members worldwide and runs a year-round programme of premieres, festivals, seminars, conferences, educational events including film screenings and tribute evenings.
In 2015, Dame Judi Dench was voted by Academy members to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, whilst the 2016 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award was Dame Helen Mirren.