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The ICO blog brings you all the latest news from the world of cinemas and film festivals, including opportunities, best practice guides, festival reports, opinions and interviews. To sign up to receive regular updates on the blog, click here. If you’d like to pitch a piece for our blog, please read our guidelines here.

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A black and white photo of a woman posing next to an analogue film camera.
Through The Eyes Of Children: Decolonizing Arbiters of Change in British Black Filmmaking
Posted on January 21, 2022

Carefree, childlike wonder and freedom of expression have proven to be sparse attributes in characterisations of Black childhood on British screens. It is an ‘adultification’ of Black children that has real-time, real-life repercussions; a denial of an essential, humanising ideal of innocence, that robs Black children of their childhood, places adult responsibilities on their young bodies and puts them subsequently in danger.
Movies Memories: How GFT built a dementia-friendly film community
Posted on January 13, 2022

In this blog we hear from Jodie Wilkinson, Public Engagement Coordinator for Glasgow Film, about how they built a dementia-friendly film community through their Movie Memories engagement programme. Jodie discusses the practical steps they took in researching and creating the programme, offers some tips on running your own dementia-friendly screenings based on their learnings, and shares a method of evaluating the social value of programmes like this - which can be a useful tool when applying for future funding.
News & Opportunities:
December 2021 round up
Posted on December 23, 2021

Our regular monthly update featuring the latest news and opportunities for your cinema, festival or film society.
A man with pink glasses, a gold neck chain and a purple jacket sings into a microphone in front of a huge crowd of people.
ICO's Best of 2021
Posted on December 21, 2021

The ICO team share their cinematic highlights of 2021.
A crowd sits in a film auditorium, facing a screen at the front. On screen is a black and white close-up of a woman's face, looking in awe at something straight ahead of her.
Archiving film: the final stop in a film's journey?
Posted on December 16, 2021

Asif Vehvaria writes about the history of film preservation, the importance of archival work and the ways they bring these films to audiences at Phoenix, Leicester.
Still on My Skin... Using Immersive Cinema to Engage Audiences with Archive and Silent Film
Posted on December 9, 2021

Archive Screening Days takes place at BFI Southbank today, Thursday 9 December 2021. It's an event to help share film history and history on film, and discuss ways to bring archive work to audiences. To accompany the event, film programmer, curator and creative producer Niki Harman writes about the techniques you can use to engage audiences with silent and archive film in a collective encounter that goes beyond the usual cinema-going experience.
A black and white film still showing a woman posing for a photo while leaning against a large film camera.
Political, Passionate, Unapologetic:
The Remarkable Films of the
Independent Miss Craigie
Posted on December 6, 2021

Streaming on the Cinema of Ideas until 16 December, Independent Miss Craigie is a fascinating new film about pioneering filmmaker Jill Craigie (1911-99), one of the first women to direct films in Britain and a passionate feminist who aspired to build a more equal society after WWII. Alongside the film, on 7 December we'll be joined by a panel of guests including Lizzie Thynne (director, Independent Miss Craigie), Penny Woolcock (director, Tina Goes Shopping, One Mile Away, Ackley Bridge) and Ros Cranston (Curator of Non-Fiction Film and Television at the BFI National Archive) to discuss the work and legacy of this trailblazing filmmaker. To accompany this event, Invisible Women’s Rachel Pronger writes about Craigie's curtailed career, the challenges she faced to get her work made, and the reasons why her films still resonate today.
Community Cinema: Handing film back to the people
Posted on December 2, 2021

Our FEDS Trainee Scheme is at the forefront of changing and diversifying our film industry. The scheme offers participants a ten-month long paid traineeship in the exhibition sector, as well as mentoring and expert industry advice. Our 2020 cohort saw their placements delayed for over a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but finally began their traineeships this summer. In this blog, we hear from Patrice Robinson about the work she did on this year's Leytonstone Loves Film festival, as part of her placement at the Barbican.
News & Opportunities:
November 2021 round up
Posted on November 30, 2021

Our regular monthly update featuring all the news and opportunities that matter for your cinema, festival or film society right now.
A woman stands behind the bars of a prison cell, looking to the other side resentfully. The shadow of one of the bars is cast across her face.
Women’s pictures of the 1980s: Scrubbers and the spirit of resilience in Thatcher’s Britain
Posted on November 17, 2021

From 18 November – 2 December, we're celebrating the working-class heroines who brought grit and glamour to 1980s women’s cinema by screening Mai Zetterling’s brilliant Borstal ballad Scrubbers on The Cinema of Ideas. Alongside this, Susannah Buxton, who created the film’s costumes, will be in conversation with film historian and critic Pamela Hutchinson on Wednesday 24 November to discuss the making of and the impact of this astonishing film. Book now. To accompany this event, Pamela writes about the historical context in which Scrubbers was made and the unforgettable women who were burning up the screen in this period.

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