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
- Unlock your film festival’s global brand potential with Place, Identity and Building an International Festival Brand on Tuesday, 9 December, 2pm to 3.30pm. A new webinar presented by the ICO’s International Film Festival Network and Eventive, this free session will feature speakers from Kendal Mountain Festival (UK), Sitges Film Festival (Spain), and BlackStar Film Festival (USA), sharing the ways they’ve successfully harnessed the spirit and identity of their location to attract an international audience.
- As part of our ongoing work to create an industry which is fair and open to all, we publish regular progress updates on our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan. Our most recent update covers topics including our Screening Days audience research, the ICO accessibility standards, our upcoming accessibility online training course, our assessment of Film Hub South East applications, the Outline script development programme, and the latest information on our gender pay gap.
- Tickets are now on sale for Crip Melodrama: She’s Hysterical, a mini-tour marking 30 years of Todd Haynes’ Safe and exploring the complicated representations of disabled women in melodrama. Presented by the ICO in collaboration with disabled curators Charlie Little, Florence Grieve, and Emily Simmons, screenings and events will take place in Birmingham and Bristol this December. Visit our Linktree to find out more and book tickets, and contact bookings@independentcinemaoffice.org.uk to bring Safe to your venue.
- Celebrate working class film talent and audiences with Uncommon Voices: Exploring Class in New British Cinema. This new selection of contemporary short films explores working class Britain as it is and imagines itself to be, spanning documentaries, flights of fancy and realism. Please contact bookings@independentcinemaoffice.org.uk to discuss bringing this programme to your venue.
- The ICO blog is open now for pitches which share insights on a range of topics such as accessibility, audience development, and new exhibition initiatives. If you have an idea for an article that you’d like us to commission, please read our blog guidelines and get in touch.
- Looking for your next role in film exhibition or have a great opportunity to advertise? Our Jobs Board highlights roles from all over the UK in exhibition and distribution, and is completely free for jobseekers and advertisers. Sign up for email alerts to get new jobs sent directly to your inbox.
Resources, Opportunities and Events
- BFI and BFI FAN are partnering with Historic England to deliver online Carbon Literacy courses for FAN members UK-wide. The interactive online course takes place over two days next February, is entry-level and action-focused, and on completion, you will be certified as Carbon Literate.
- Want to know more about your audience and what they value? Indigo’s newest Hot Topic survey will explore membership models at cultural venues and why audiences are drawn to them, ranging from increased visit frequency to building loyalty. Register now to be part of the collaborative research project.
- Stronger Than Love: ¡Too Much Mexican Melodrama!, presented by Invisible Women, will tour across the UK in December, celebrating the lavish, emotionally charged world of 1930s–50s Mexican cinema with four restored classics that put women’s stories front and centre.
- Cinema For All are celebrating 100 years of community cinema through December 2025, and as part of their nationwide festival, screening licenses are available for the top titles voted for by the Cinema For All community, along with a £200 bursary to support screenings from the curated menu.
- Make your email marketing sustainable in a free webinar from the Digital Culture Network, which will explore how you can optimise efficiency and create campaigns that are both eco-friendly and engaging for readers.
- The next BFI FAN: EDI in Focus webinar explores curating disability, helping exhibitors meaningfully embed disability-focused programming into screenings and events.
- The Film and TV Charity’s Winter Appeal is now live, with funds raised all going to help fight loneliness, mental health struggles, and financial stress across our industry.
- Into Film is inviting cinemas across the UK to take part in their next programme of free screenings for schools, 10 to 27 March 2026. Complete this short sign-up form to help inspire the next generation of cinema-goers and strengthen your connections with local teachers and communities.
- See work from the Film London Jarman Award 2025 nominees at the Whitechapel Gallery. The exhibition features a range of bold moving image work, including films from this year’s co-winners, Morgan Quaintance and Onyeka Igwe, who the ICO previously commissioned as part of our 2020 Second Sight film tour.
- Watch the recording of the most recent BFI FAN: Green Hour, which explores the funding strategies and opportunities available to support making sustainable improvements to your venue.
- In BFI FAN news, Celia Imrie recently visited Warwick Arts Centre to surprise audiences and staff with news that the cinema’s Handle With Care programme will receive National Lottery funding through Film Hub Midlands. BFI FAN members can also now register special offers for National Lottery Open Week 2026, which is a great opportunity to thank Lottery players for supporting arts and culture across the UK.
Good Reads
- Missed the latest ICO blog? Catch up now with our highlights from the 2025 BFI London Film Festival.
- Read the transcript of Georgia Kumari Bradburn’s extended introduction to Safe, which accompanied our Crip Melodrama: She’s Hysterical screening at the Barbican.
- Arts Professional has summarised the 2025 Autumn Budget, which features only minimal mentions of the creative industries, arts, heritage and culture.
- Ahead of the budget, MP Jo Platt wrote about the benefits of bringing a Smart Fund scheme to the UK, which could generate funds to support artists directly and create a sounder infrastructure across the cultural sector.
- Jeanne Dielman or Brighton & Hove Albion? Oscar Aitchison writes for Little White Lies on the euphoric pleasures of movies and football.
- Alice Lovejoy looks at the experimental afterlife of the Éclair labs outside Paris for Film Comment
- Dan Ellis, managing director of ICO client cinema Jam Jar (Whitley Bay) and Market Pavilion (Blyth), explained the balancing act that independent cinemas make between big titles, broadening the choice for film lovers and building a culture of cinema appreciation. Reported by Screen International in their piece on the festive box office.
- The BFI London Film Festival reached record-breaking audience numbers for the second year in a row, with 235,853 people attending screenings, events and immersive experiences.
- Watch the oldest film in the BFI archive, a 44-second “living photograph” from the 1895 Epsom Derby.
- Starting to make your predictions for awards season? Read Screen Daily’s roundup of 17 of the UK’s top contenders.
Header image: Kendal Mountain Festival, featured speakers at the Place, Identity and Building an International Festival Brand webinar. Image courtesy of Kendal Mountain Festival.