Welcome back to your monthly round-up from the ICO, featuring the latest opportunities for your cinema, festival or film society and industry highlights from the UK and beyond.
ICO News
- We’ve launched a new UK Film Exhibition Workforce Survey to build a clear picture of who works, volunteers, or freelances in film exhibition and understand whether it reflects the diversity of the UK and provides fair opportunities. The anonymous, confidential survey takes just 10 minutes to complete, and every response strengthens the evidence we can present.
- Have you considered joining our International Film Festival Network? On offer is a new annual rate of £100 + VAT/€120 per year — just fill in our short registration form, and we’ll be in touch to confirm your membership, finalise payment and invite you to upcoming IFFN events.
- You can catch Uncommon Voices: Exploring Class in New British Cinema, a programme of short films on the working class experience in modern Britain, at The Rio Cinema on Wednesday 29 April as part of their Rio Forever season. To screen Uncommon Voices at your venue and discuss in-person speaker opportunities, email bookings@independentcinemaoffice.org.uk.
- The ICO is seeking blog pitches from industry voices offering insight into film exhibition. Read over our blog guidelines and share a brief outline of your idea with info@independentcinemaoffice.org.uk.
- Looking for new opportunities? Check out our Jobs Board to find a range of open roles.
Resources, Opportunities and Events
- BFI FAN CON is coming to Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle upon Tyne from 7 to 9 September.
- A brand new Online Learning Course, Accessibility Across the Board, offers practical steps to help your organisation develop a more accessible and inclusive culture and environment. Register now and receive lifetime access to complete at your own pace.
- Applications are now open for Rip It Up, the 2026 BFI FAN UK-wide season exploring and celebrating the changing face of youth rebellion, culture and expression on screen in the UK.
- The third – and final – round of Reel Impact is currently accepting applications until 21 April. This programme is aimed at mid-to-senior Black and Global Majority talent – as well as Black and Global Majority-led organisations across film, TV, and cinema.
- Historic England, ACE and Film Hub North are delivering Carbon Reduction Training for the Heritage Sectors, including Heritage Carbon Reduction Webinars, which start on Thursday 23 April.
- The International Deaf Film & Arts Festival returns to Wolverhampton, UK, from 8 to 10 May.
- Applications for CICAE’s renowned Arthouse Cinema Training are open. The 23rd edition, taking place in Berlin from 24 to 30 August 2026, will provide participants with practical tools, strategic insights, and international connections to strengthen and future-proof their cinemas. To get a sense of what to expect, you can read ICO Assistant Film Programmer Heather Bradshaw’s account of attending last year on the ICO Blog.
- Kirsten Geekie, the BFI FAN Young Audience Champion, has added an additional Young Audiences Case Study to her BFI FAN article, exploring Cellb, Wales.
- Oska Bright Film Festival, focused on films made by or featuring people with learning disabilities or autism, is back from 28 March to 2 April!
- Film Hub Scotland have partnered with Take One Action to produce a guide to planning great events and hosting impactful conversations for community cinemas and film clubs aimed at established organisations or a community group hosting its first screening.
Good Reads
- Oxford cinema, Ultimate Picture Palace (UPP), has launched a campaign to secure its future. To sign the petition and support the cause, visit savetheupp.com.
- BFI announced continued funding for Film Hub, BFI Film Audience Network (FAN), SPOTLIGHT programme, and the ESCAPES initiative, over the next three years in the BFI National Lottery Funding Plan 2026-2029.
- As the theme of International Women’s Day is Give to Gain, BAFTA have emphasised the importance of mentorship by sharing an interview with Reuben Scholar Roisin Clear and her mentor Katie Piper.
- Reclaim The Frame has launched a funding drive in order to sustain its gender equity work in UK film.
- For Metrograph, writer-director Ari Aster and cartoonist and screenwriter Daniel Clowes swapped stories about their weird and wonderful experiences at the cinema.
- Birmingham Children’s Hospital opened the largest MediCinema in the UK, with a red carpet preview screening of Hoppers marking the launch.
- The Rio is celebrating 50 years of being run by and for its community with a six-month-long anniversary programme that launches on 17 April.
- Culture Hive shared five key audience trends reshaping arts marketing in 2026, with Marketing Consultant Christina Lister exploring how audiences are booking, engaging, and making decisions differently.
- Martin Gammeltoft and Dr. Patricia Stainer shared how venues can design multiple discovery pathways that reduce invisible barriers and help more people find their events.
- Celebrating Women’s History Month, The Rice Thresher shared some of the best recent female-centred and female-directed films to watch.
- With March marking Saint Patrick’s Day, Letterboxd shared a starter pack of twenty great films set in Ireland.
- The BBC reports that plans to create a new cinema in Leicester have been approved, supporting the area’s Local Plan for growth in the city with the site also aiming to operate as a microbrewery.
- Forbes remembers Chuck Norris, sharing 5 of the action legend’s must-watch roles.
- BFI have shared how they select and process items for the BFI National Archive, one of the largest collections of moving images in the world.
Header image: Still from Human Traffic – courtesy of BFI Distribution – a key title as part of Rip It Up