evidence: The Covid-19 crisis has revived discussion about the role of public information films – films produced by the Central Office of Information, until its closure in 2011. As the BFI releases a new Blu-ray collection of the best of the COI’s output, Robert Hanks looks back over the history of the agency, and asks what their films have to teach us in our present moment. [...] The Best of COI: Five Decades of Public Information Films is out now on Blu-ray from the BFI. A collection of public information films, including a selection from the Central Office of Information, is available to view on BFI Player. [...] The thought is prompted by a new Blu-ray set released by the BFI, The Best of COI: Five Decades of Public Information Films, which demonstrates vividly the range of form, tone and feeling that government publicity has employed – cartoons, short dramas, documentaries, adverts; patriotism, boosterism, marketing, encouragement, cajoling, nagging, finger-wagging, comedy, suspense, outright terror…