Reflecting on funded projects in 2025

As we come to the end of the year, we reflect on the incredible array of projects delivered by Film Hub South East members with support from the Film Exhibition Fund. This year £196,650 of National Lottery funding was awarded through the fund at Film Hub South East,  part of the BFI Film Audience Network. Together, these projects have created opportunities for people living across the region to experience film in new and meaningful ways.   

Each awarded project delivers against one or more of the Film Exhibition Fund’s priorities. These priorities are to create opportunities for children and young people to experience a broader screen culture, to support public access to a wider choice of film and to tackle the social, economic and geographic barriers that prevent people from attending their local venue or film festival. 

From major festivals to grassroots initiatives, Film Hub South East members have continued to champion diversity, accessibility and ambitious film programming this year. The fund was once again oversubscribed: we had £196,650 available and received 35 applications totalling £259,000. Below we round-up all the supported projects, not only to share learning across the network but to inspire and ignite ideas for 2026!  

Film Festivals  

• Suffolk Shorts expanded their festival this year with an ambitious programme of hyper-local short films reaching local audiences, as well as introducing more youth involvement.  

• Brighton Rocks International Film Festival focused on local themes interwoven with national and international films, as well as a youth and documentary programme this year.  

• Cinecity returned with their 23rd edition, showcasing cultural cinema across multiple venues in Brighton and Lewes, onboarding new venue partners and running the festival for a slightly longer period.  

• Folkestone Documentary Festival showcased 25 documentaries in their fifth edition, working with a wide range of local organisations to encourage attendance and overcome the social barriers people face in going to the cinema.  

• Deal Film Festival hosted their festival with six specialised film screenings, each followed by a Q&A with filmmakers and special efforts to reach low-income and family audiences.  

• Sustain Film Festival delivered the second edition of their festival, exploring environmental sustainability through their feature film and shorts programmes taking place in multiple venues across Guildford.  

• Chichester International Film Festival expanded their festival programme this year by introducing more events, a mobile screen and heritage screenings to celebrate archive film.  

• AWANetwork were supported to deliver the African Animated Shorts Experience (TAASE) in Deal to celebrate Afrocentric storytelling and visual innovation through screenings, panels, and demos.  

• Norwich Film Festival celebrated bold short-form storytelling this year with specific goals around engaging young people, first-time attendees, and underrepresented communities.  

• Margate Film Festival expanded their outreach to young people, families and Thanet’s working-class and queer communities this year, through inclusive and hands-on film screenings.  

• Watersprite Film Festival have expanded their year-round programming this year to increase access to film for local Cambridgeshire young people, as well as deliver the annual student film festival.  

• Women Over Fifty Film Festival ran a hybrid short film festival this year at Depot in Lewes with screenings, Q&As and screen talks.  

• Sunrise Film Festival were supported in their 4th edition to reach young and local audiences as well as expand their programme to include archive film and VR.   

• Cambridge Film Festival delivered an expanded Family Film Festival this year with reduced ticket prices and dedicated outreach as well as a focus on films directed by female or non binary filmmakers. 

Non-theatrical Exhibitors  

• Fabrica, Brighton ran a youth-led film programme engaging young audiences aged 5-25, combining Fabrica’s young film programming groups and student placements, offering opportunities for career development in independent film exhibition.  

• Electric Medway, Rochester established a monthly Cinema Club at the Huguenot Museum on Rochester High Street, targeting audiences 16+ with wraparound XR shorts preceding the screenings.  

• Kent Film Foundation were awarded funding to continue the Ramsgate Community Cinema programme, operating twice-weekly screening a wide range of films, including a pay-what-you-can ticket model to support engagement and access with the screenings.  

• Anglo Asiatic Arts & Heritage Alliance marked the 80th anniversary of WWII by screening Nepalese films at the Purfleet Military Centre in Grays, as well as hosting Thurrock International Film Festival.  

• Electric Palace were supported to deliver their Afri-Co-Lab Presents programme, piloting a film strand co-curated with local Black-led groups to celebrate black representation on screen and reach global majority audiences in Hastings.  

• ZonaSur hosted monthly screenings in Oxford that celebrate Latin American and Caribbean culture, with wraparound activity including expert-led discussions.  

• Through A Different Lens were supported to deliver their film festival as part of ongoing activities to support underrepresented voices and expand access to film and the creative industries for people living in Reading and Berkshire.  

• Bute Street Projects were supported to deliver a curated film programme at Luton’s Library Theatre and Hat Factory, partnering with local film clubs and aiming to reach young people.  

• Creative Arts East continued their community cinema scheme, working to cement rural access to a broad and exciting cinema offer for people experiencing geographic, financial or other barriers to participation across Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.  

• Videoclub continued the delivery of their three-year Days of Wonder programme focused on increasing engagement with the film heritage of Brighton & Hove and Shoreham, focused on the period 1896-1923, through film screenings, events and workshops.  

Independent cinemas and mixed arts venues  

• Palace Cinema, Broadstairs celebrated the cinema’s 60th anniversary with low-cost celebratory screenings, events aiming to strengthen community ties and engage families, neurodiverse and low-income audiences.  

• The Riverside, Woodbridge programmed a season of classics celebrating the history of technicolour in film called ‘Around the World in Technicolour’ with an emphasis on engaging younger audiences with specialised film.   

• Reel Connections were supported to deliver a series of screenings, enhanced with immersive, folklore-inspired activities and archive material, across venues in Norfolk linking cinema to local heritage, in partnership with Norfolk Folklore Society.   

• The Corn Exchange in Newbury revived their monthly dementia-friendly screenings, ensuring accessibility and social engagement for people with dementia and their carers, as well as a diverse film programme.  

• Chichester Cinema were supported to run a three-day family film festival with affordable screenings, unique films and engaging activities designed to build lasting cinema habits in children, working closely with charity partners to ensure accessibility.  

• Towner Eastbourne hosted a themed film season in parallel with their Sussex Modernism art exhibition, featuring Sussex-based films with intros, Q&As and live events, exploring audience appetite for rep screenings.  

Thank you to everyone who took the time to apply to the Film Exhibition Fund in 2025. With such a strong year behind us, we’re looking forward to what 2026/27 will bring for audiences in the South East!