Our regular monthly update featuring the latest news and opportunities for your cinema, festival or film society.
ICO News
- On Saturday 29 October, we’re hosting an evening with the great Fronza Woods in partnership with the ICA, screening new restorations of her shorts Killing Time and Fannie’s Film followed by a rare opportunity to hear from Woods herself in person. Tickets are available here.
- Screenings are currently taking place across the country for our In Dreams Are Monsters UK tour. Alongside a major season at BFI Southbank, this nationwide tour offers startling and provocative examples of the monsters that have come to shape the horror genre. Films are available to book for screenings until 31 December.
- On the Cinema of Ideas, film programmer, critic and filmmaker Tony Rayns returns to continue his absorbing conversation with Simon Ward. Tony Rayns in Conversation: Part Three will touch on the work of Wong Kar-wai, Bong Joon-ho, Jia Zhangke and more, and will be available to stream live for free on 2 November. Book your place here.
- Registration for Archive Screening Days, taking place online (Tuesday 6 December) and in-person at BFI Southbank (Thursday 8 December), is now open. We’ve already confirmed Buck and the Preacher to screen in-person, with more titles to be announced soon. Book your place now.
- There’s still time to watch Right of Way: The Online Roundtable on the Cinema of Ideas before the event ends tonight. Alongside the panel discussion, you can also watch a recorded poem by Louisa Adjoa Parker, and archive film Springtime in an English Village (1944) introduced by Head Curator at the BFI National Archive Robin Baker. If you miss the panel discussion, which explores ideas related to access and inclusion in the UK countryside, it will be available on the ICO YouTube channel very soon.
- Jonas Mekas 100!, our UK cinema tour bringing together several of the filmmaker’s most-celebrated films alongside lesser-seen works, is available for venues to book until 30 November.
Opportunities
- Big Issue Invest is offering loan finance between £20,000 to £150,000 to social enterprises and charities in England, for energy efficiency and renewable energy installation.
- We’d like to hear from Front of House staff about their experiences working in the sector for an article on our site. We’re interested in hearing about what work is like post-pandemic, how you give an inclusive welcome, what the independent cinema experience means for your team, how your work with other departments to connect audiences to your programme, and more. If you’d like to contribute please email info@independentcinemaoffice.org.uk with a brief suggestion of what you’d like to write about. Our rates are 15p per word and we’re looking for a maximum of 350 words for these contributions.
- Arts Council England are developing an Access Scheme dedicated to improving access for disabled, D/deaf and neurodivergent audience members.
- Applications for BFI Film Academy Specialist Courses are now open. The courses are open to 16-19 year olds living in the UK of any experience level, who wish to develop skills and build a career in the film industry. Apply now.
- We’re accepting applications for three paid guest curator contributions for our next Archive Screening Days event scheduled for 8 December at BFI Southbank. The deadline for applications is 31 October.
- There are currently roles available at the BFI, Curzon, Broadway, and more on our jobs board.
Upcoming film screenings & seasons
- Paris-based collective, La Clef Revival, are bringing a weekend of special programmes exploring new modes of cinema presentation from Friday 28 October – Sunday 30 October. Book here.
- Film Africa, London’s biggest celebration of African and African diaspora cinema presented by the Royal African Society, returns 28 October – 6 November to venues across the city. Beyond Nollywood, a showcase of new Nigerian cinema, takes place at BFI Southbank on the 29 – 30 October as part of the festival.
- The London Korean Film Festival returns to celebrate its 17th year from 3 November – 17 November, featuring 35+ cinema screenings in leading venues around London. This year’s festival features a ‘Special Focus’ strand in memory of actress Kang Soo-yeon, and a Documentary strand presenting 3 works in which participatory activism, mainstream style, and experimentation within the contemporary art world intersect. The festival will go on to tour to Glasgow and Manchester, on 24 November and 27 November respectively. Full details of the screenings here.
- Doc’n Roll Film Festival is now taking place in London and 13 other UK cities, until 13 November with 19 Premiere future-length documentaries and 10 films touring the UK.
- Norwich Film Festival takes place Friday 11 – Sunday 20 November. This year’s festival features 115 films in its official selection from 18 countries, representing a great variety for all tastes, including comedy, family-friendly, animation, LGBTQ+, sci-fi, East Anglian and more. Book now.
- Irish Film Festival London, the UK’s largest celebration of Irish film, is taking place between 16- 21 November. The festival hosts feature films, short film programmes and industry events, with this year includes live music, spoken word and even dramatic performances.
- Another Screen, feminist film journal Another Gaze’s free online streaming platform, is streaming Three German films on familial & economic violence, alongside original writing as part of a programme called And Who Do You Hit? until 19 November. The films are Helga Reidemeister’s The Bought Dream (1977) & Is This Fate (1979), as well as Cristina Perincioli’s Für Frauen 1. Kapitel (1971). Stream here.
- The ninth edition of This Way Up will bring you two days of networking and probing sessions next month. The festival takes place 30 November – 1 December in-person at Dundee Contemporary Arts and online. Passes are on sale now.
- As part of Changing Times: Curious, there’s a wide range of archive film events across the UK, which celebrate the human desire to learn more about the people and things around us. Find out more here.
Good reads/watches/listens
- Edinburgh’s collapse shows why a long-term strategy is vital – and no festival is safe on Screen Daily
- Killing Time with Fronza Woods interview with the filmmaker on Criterion
- Cinemas aren’t considered ‘cultural spaces’. As we’ve seen in Scotland, this has consequences on The Guardian.
- When boards go bad: how to take inclusive action on Arts Professional
- Cate Blanchett and Todd Field’s Closet Picks on Criterion Collection’s YouTube
- 12 documentaries to look out for this awards season on Screen Daily
- Thamesmead, Texas: Building a Nomadic Community Cinema on ICO blog
- Angela Lansbury obituary: British-born star with a 78-year Hollywood career on BFI
- Time for a new pricing model? on Arts Professional
- The Current Debate: On the Exploitation of “Blonde” on MUBI Notebook
- Set Decorator Ian Whittaker Obituary on The Guardian
- Why documentary horror Häxan still terrifies, a century on on BBC Culture
- Robbie Coltrane – a life in pictures on The Guardian
We post our news & opportunities round-up on the final Thursday of every month. Have something you want included? Email Jake at: jake.abatan@independentcinemaoffice.org.uk
Header image: Fronza Woods as pictured in her short, Killing Time (1979).
See the film and hear from Woods in-person at the ICA Saturday October 29.
The Films of Fronza Woods are available to book now.