Our regular monthly update featuring the latest news and opportunities for your cinema, festival or film society.
ICO News
- This month marks our 20th anniversary! We’re so proud of what we’ve achieved over the last twenty years of supporting independent cinema and have shared some of our milestones in this video. We owe huge thanks to the BFI for their continuing support, as well as all our partners, sponsors, friends & champions over the years.
- We held our first-ever Future of Film Festivals Forum in Wrocław, Poland from 19-20 July. Funded by the British Council, and delivered in collaboration with mBank New Horizons Film Festival, the Forum brought together 41 international film festivals from 24 countries to connect with industry peers and collaborate on issues facing the sector. The event also laid the groundwork for a new international film festival network which we will launch this autumn.
- Registration for Inclusion & Diversity Screening Days 2023 is now open! Taking place online on Tuesday 26 September and in person at Storyhouse, Chester on Thursday 28 September, this is a key event to help exhibitors make a lasting difference to who is included in their audiences & workforce. We’ve already announced the first two films in the programme (Is There Anybody Out There? and Mami Wata) and the first session (on making your screening environments more welcoming to a variety of audiences).
- Got ideas for how cinemas can increase the number of people from underrepresented groups who engage with independent film? Or how they can encourage a wider group of people to join and contribute to the independent cinema workforce? We are currently looking for paid guest curators (£500 fee) to provide session proposals for ID Screening Days. The deadline to apply is 2 August 2023.
- We’ve updated our UK Film Exhibition Workforce Survey to reflect the latest census data. Having received 602 responses in 2022, this was the most comprehensive survey of the UK film exhibition sector ever. The updated survey now better compares the exhibition workforce with the current demographic makeup of the UK.
- We’re pleased to once again be able to offer Ceddo Film and Video Workshop’s The People’s Account for DCP and online bookings. A documentary about the Broadwater Farm uprising in Tottenham, the film was originally pulled from TV schedules due to its depiction of the police.
- Over on our blog, Rosemary Richings spoke to Jonathan Gleneadie and Robert Barham, and drew on her own personal experience to discuss why relaxed screenings are so crucial for cinemas to get right, and where to begin with hosting these screenings. Elsewhere on the blog, Jake Abatan spoke to The Evolution of Horror and Ghibliotheque about why collaborating with podcasts can help cinemas plug into new audiences.
- We are still recruiting for new board members, and are especially interested in hearing from people under 30 as well as those who reflect more widely the communities we serve in audiences across the UK. Want to find out more? We have three online information sessions coming up, on 14 September, 15 September and 19 September. The deadline for applications is 22 September.
Opportunities & Resources
- Cinema Rediscovered is back for its 7th edition (26 – 30 July 2023) and is launching a UK-wide touring programme, giving exhibitors the chance to screen a selection of titles from this year’s festival. You can find details of the films available book in this document.
- The deadline for FAN members to submit bespoke proposals as part of Cinema Unbound: The Creative Worlds of Powell & Pressburger has now passed, but exhibitors can continue to book four core titles from the season on a rolling basis until Monday 16 October 2023.
- It’s never been more important to support the brilliant people working behind the scenes in our sector. With the help of The Film and TV Charity and their services, many incredible people in our industry have access to support which means they can continue to thrive. The charity is now calling for donations to help support the financial, emotional, and social wellbeing of everyone working in film and TV.
- Applications are open for the BFI LFF 2023 Critics Mentorship Programme. Open to emerging film critics from underrepresented groups, the 6th edition of the programme will give participants the chance to be mentored by industry media professionals and have their work published by the London Film Festival’s media partners and the BFI.
- Oska Bright Film Festival, the world’s leading festival for films made by or featuring people with learning disabilities or autism, has issued a free resource for the cinema sector, Welcoming Learning Disabled Audiences Back, which is part of its wider Welcome Back support programme. The short information pack includes insights into the needs of learning-disabled audiences and tips on welcoming them into cinemas.
- Our jobs board currently features roles at the British Council, Hong Kong Film Festival UK, Phoenix Leicester, The Ultimate Picture Palace, Into Film, and more!
Good reads/watches/listens
- Entering the forbidden zone: Bette Gordon’s Variety at 40
- After Barbie, Mattel is raiding its entire toybox
- Silent Cinema Rediscovered: Salomé, Together and more in Bristol
- Where does BFI Distribution fit into the UK arthouse landscape?
- Il Cinema Ritrovato 2023: Favourites & discoveries
- Barbie and Oppenheimer are more than massive hits
- David Oyelowo, Naomie Harris, Brian Cox speak out at UK actors rally
- What does ‘Barbenheimer’ really mean for Hollywood?
- Jane Birkin: a life in pictures
- On the steely fragility of Jane Birkin
- On the state of the U.S. film festival circuit and the future of film distribution
- The most significant political films of all time
- Turner Classic Movies is an American national treasure
- On Anthony Mann and James Stewart’s Westerns
- Greta Gerwig’s official Barbie watchlist
- The Elegaic Heart: Celebrating the 101st anniversary of Pier Paolo Pasolini
- An Angel Has Fallen: On the work of the late Kenneth Anger
- Jessica Kiang on this year’s Il Cinema Ritrovato
- Cheryl Dunye on The Watermelon Woman and the power of doing it yourself
- Erotics of Estrangement: On the work of Jean Eustache
- Christina Newland on Lynne Ramsay’s Movern Callar
- Sounds from the films of Atom Egoyan
- In conversation with Filipa Reis and Ildikó Enyedi
- A Conscious Lie: Catherine Breillat discusses Last Summer
- Past Utopias: The enduring charm of Whit Stillman’s cinema
- On Garrett Bradley’s trilogy of short films
- Two restored films by the great Egyptian director Shadi Abdel Salam
Header: Mami Wata (dir. CJ Obasi), screening as part of Inclusion & Diversity Screening Days 2023.
We post our news & opportunities round-up on the final Thursday of each month. Have something you’d like included? Email Sami at: sami.abdul-razzak@independentcinemaoffice.org.uk