Our regular monthly update featuring the latest news and opportunities for your cinema, festival or film society.
ICO News
- Save the date! Spring Screening Days will take place in-person at BFI Southbank from Saturday 11 to Monday 13 March, with select films screening online from Tuesday 14 March. Registration for this event will open in early January 2023 – join our Screening Days email list to receive updates.
- Repetition as Differentiation via Latifah and Himli’s Nomadic Uncle, our December event on the Cinema of Ideas is available to watch until 31 December. The event includes a performance lecture from curator Jemma Desai and a discussion between Jemma and film & cultural relations consultant Jo Duncombe. You can watch Latifah and Himli’s Nomadic Uncle on BFI Player.
- Intended as a complement to specific in-house training, our Front of House Workers online course provides staff in customer-facing roles with everything they need to make a positive impact in their venue. Available to individuals, or as an institutional licence – find out more here.
- We strive to help everyone have access to life-changing cinema and so following Sight and Sound’s recent Critics’ Poll, we’ve compiled a list of the UK rights holders for the top 100 films to help exhibitors share these titles with audiences.
- 2022 was a fantastic year for the Cinema of Ideas, with the platform hosting crucial discussion on a wide scope of contemporary film culture, from the likes of Tony Rayns, Jemma Desai, Terence Davies, Ashley Clark and many more. You can watch recordings from the Cinema of Ideas events on our YouTube channel.
Opportunities
- The Sir Horace Ové Grant is a new grant that will aim to help Black and Global Majority people working behind the scenes in film, TV, and cinema, with the aim to support access and overcoming barriers to career progression. More info here.
- Flatpack Festival is inviting applications from curators and programmers from underrepresented groups for Flatpack 2023 (16-21 May). Projects proposals can include films, performances, talks, workshops etc. and while there’s no set theme, they want to celebrate a range of different voices and perspectives, shining a light on artists, filmmakers, and subjects that are underrepresented on and off-screen. See more info here.
- Live Cinema UK is providing a free introductory session for artists, filmmakers, producers or exhibitors in Yorkshire who want to create or show immersive film of any kind, but don’t know where to start. Applications are open to all Yorkshire creators, producers or exhibitors of film in the region, but they particularly welcome applications from anyone who feels they are underrepresented in the immersive technology sectors. To apply, please complete this form.
- The Arts Green Book is an initiative by the cultural sectors – working with sustainability experts Buro Happold, and supported by Arts Council England and the GLA – to work more sustainably. Their Sustainable Buildings resource provides guidance for making cultural buildings making it fit for purpose in the context of the climate emergency and can be downloaded now from their website.
- The Grierson DocLab core training programme supports 12 successful applicants aged 18-25 and based in the UK taking their first steps in factual TV/documentary jobs. They’re looking for applicants who are keen to learn about the different behind-the-scenes roles in the industry, from editorial to production management – as well as people who have fresh perspectives and ideas on what they can contribute to the sector. Apply here.
Upcoming film screenings & seasons
- Screening from 12-19 January at the ICA, and curated in partnership with the NFTS, Beyond Interpretation is a new programme that explores the connections between paranoia, conspiracy, anxiety and the precarious realities of artistic creation at the margins of the American film industry. The season starts with the UK premiere of Paul Felten and Joe DeNardo’s debut feature Slow Machine accompanied by an introduction and Q&A. Book now.
- The Woman with a Movie Camera Summit returns in person at BFI Southbank on Saturday 14 January, with guest speakers including Sally El Hosaini, Lava La Rue and Krysty Wilson-Cairns. Book now.
- London Short Film Festival has announced their 2023 programme. Taking place 20-29 January at venues across London, you can now buy tickets for the full programme here.
- Streaming on Another Screen until 4 January, Films From Iran For Iran is a solidarity fundraising programme of films by womxn, made from 1979 to the present day, with a focus on experimental and non-fiction work.
Good reads/watches/listens
- Beyond the Canon: Looking Past ‘The Greatest Films of All Time’
- ICO’s Best of 2022
- The Film Comment Podcast: TÁR WARS
- The Sundance 2023 Lineup
- Nameless Energies: Don DeLillo at the Movies
- Out of Sight, Never Out of Mind: Revisiting the First Sight & Sound Poll
- Film Comment’s Best Films of 2022
- Against Lists
- What makes a movie the greatest of all time? (*Paywall)
- The Sight and Sound ‘Greatest Films’ Poll Presents a Bolder Vision of World Cinema
- The Revelatory Tedium of the New ‘Greatest Film of All Time’
- Watch select films from Sight and Sound’s 2023 poll on BFI Player
- Cine wanderer: Chantal Akerman’s News from Home
- The Muppet Christmas Carol: A festive classic’s dark backdrop
- Bright Wall/Dark Room Issue 114: Romantic Comedies
- The Best Film Posters of 2022
- Academy unveils 10 shortlists in 95th Oscars race
We post our news & opportunities round-up on the final Thursday of each month. Have something you want included? Email Jake at: jake.abatan@independentcinemaoffice.org.uk
Header image: Christmas Under Fire (dir. Harry Watt, 1941), screened as part of 2022 Archive Screening Days.