ICO news
- Registration for our Young Audiences Screening Day (2 May, HOME Manchester) is now open until 5 April! First film announced: Max Minghella’s directorial debut Teen Spirit (pictured), a stylish and brave musical drama that stars Elle Fanning as an Isle of Wight teen dreaming of pop stardom. We’ll be announcing more films and speakers within the next few weeks, but if you’re planning on attending, we recommend registering as soon as possible – this event sold out last year.
- In further exciting news, we’ve also confirmed the dates for ALL upcoming Screening Days until next spring. Mark your calendars for: Summer Screening Days (6-8 July 2019, Depot, Lewes), I.D. Screening Days (26-27 September 2019, Broadway Nottingham), Autumn Screening Days (9-11 November 2019, Showroom Sheffield), Archive Screening Day (5 December 2019, BFI Southbank, London) and Spring Screening Days (7-9 March 2020, BFI Southbank, London). We’ll be opening registration for these events in no time so watch this space!
- The latest two programmes in our popular Britain on Film tour are currently available for bookings with subsidised fees, starting from as little as £20. During a time of intense political turmoil, growing public activism and ongoing debates, Protest! and Welcome to Britain offer a chance to explore a century of protest and new arrivals to the UK via touching and fascinating footage from around the country.
- It’s getting closer! We’ll be opening applications for our next Developing Your Film Festival (DYFF) training course on 4 April 2019.
- Want to put on an outdoor screening but not sure how to get started? Our new downloadable guide can help you with just that.
- We’ve loved working with Korean Cultural Centre KCCUK and BFI to bring treasures of Early Korean Cinema to four brilliant cinemas across the UK this spring. There’s still two screenings left: don’t miss Tuition at Showroom Sheffield (31 March) and Hurrah! For Freedom at Queen’s Film Theatre Belfast (7 April).
- Programming is at the heart of what we do at the ICO. Want to find out more about how we can help your venue? Get in touch with our programming team today.
Opportunities
- Get ready to programme the greatest shows on film when this year’s BFI Blockbuster tour celebrates the magic of musicals.
- Expressions of interest (for projects up to £15k) are now open for Film Feels: Obsession, the next FAN-led film season from Film Hub Midlands. This summer, get ready to explore cinematic obsessions across genres, icons and subtext.
- Aged 18-28 and passionate about cinema? Make sure to apply for Cannes Film Festival’s second ever Three Days in Cannes programme.
- Do you work in the screen industries and spend time looking after a parent, partner, sibling, friend, relative? It’s time we talk about caring – share your story in Raising Films’ Carers Survey and use the hashtag #WeNeedtoTalkAboutCaring on social.
- Applications for The FLAMIN Fellowship are now open! This is a great development and commissioning scheme for early-career artist filmmakers. Apply by 29 April.
- Enjoy the finest digital restorations, contemporary classics, film print rarities and discover some lesser known cinematic voices at this July’s Cinema Rediscovered. Early bird passes are on sale until 15 April.
- Inclusive Cinema has been collaborating with Dimension and UKCA to produce an autism-friendly screenings toolkit for cinemas, working towards wider provision of autism-friendly screenings for audiences across the UK. If you are running an autism-friendly/a relaxed screening that you’d like to include in the campaign’s publicity during April, please submit it to Inclusive Cinema using this online form. You can also share a case study with them by downloading and completing this template and sending it with an image to includeme@filmhubwales.org.
- It’s official – submissions for Depict, Watershed’s super short film competition, are open! Make a tiny film (90 seconds or less) and send to depict.org by 1 July. The winning Depict ’18 short films are also available to screen FREE of charge this year. Click here for more info on booking.
- Looking for an UK film festival to enter your film to? 15th Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival, Fringe! Queer Film and Arts Fest, Underwire Festival, Margate Film Festival, The Smalls and the BFI London Film Festival are currently looking for submissions.
- Assembly is Open City Documentary Festival’s new £10,000 development lab for international filmmakers working on their first or second feature. Deadline for applications is Friday 3 May.
- Do you need advice on attracting new audiences or does your venue have a technical issue that needs fixing? The FAN Advice and Experience Scheme’s expert advisors offer FREE 1-2-1 advice on any aspect of the film sector.
Good reads
- “Oscar Deutsch’s cinemas were the most exotic architecture in many British towns and cities. But the wrecking ball has claimed many – and is still swinging.” Explore The Guardian’s photo essay of 1930s Odeon cinemas.
- Our film programming team picked nine upcoming independent films that should be on any film lover’s radar this spring.
- On its opening weekend, Jordan Peele’s Us broke several US box office records, including the best weekend for an original horror movie, the best weekend for an original R-rated film – and as reported on Shadow & Act, the highest domestic opening weekend gross for a film headlined by a black woman.
- “You only need to look at The Ultimate Picture Palace from the outside to realise what a special little cinema it is.” Oxford’s art deco treasure The Ultimate Picture Palace has been operating as an independent cinema since 1911. Their Marketing and Events Manager Tom Jowett wrote a blog about the the craziest stories from their history, the legacy of owner Becky Hallsmith and their plans for the future.
- We’re absolutely thrilled to hear that Margarethe von Trotta will receive a lifetime achievement honour for “extraordinary service to German cinema” at the 2019 German Film Awards. Four of her classics are currently available for theatrical and non-theatrical bookings in the UK via our The Personal is Political tour.
- “In August, Business Insider reported on the Season Pass beta test at the Yonkers location, which according to the company had over 40,000 people sign up on the waitlist in less than a month.” Alamo Drafthouse’s film ticket subscription plan will launch in all of its theatres by the end of the year.
- “A common mistake made by cultural organisations is to assume that if we put stuff out there, it will inevitably be seen. We believe that social media platforms are a hotline to audiences but, realistically, most people are spending far more of their attention elsewhere, on friends, on family, on things that make them laugh, cry or argue.” Arts Professional looks into how to best develop a meaningful digital strategy for an arts organisation.
- Time Out asked eight female directors about the films that made them want to be filmmakers. The inspirational responses range from Jane Campion’s Piano (available for UK bookings from us) to Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust (available to book from BFI) and Lina Wertmüller’s Seven Beauties (her newly restored films have been screening this month as part of Barbican’s Hidden Figures strand).