Availability
Usually, community cinemas can only screen films quite a while after they first arrive in cinemas; mainly because titles are not made available on Blu-ray or DVD until a few months after their theatrical release.
Some distributors are reluctant to shorten their traditional release windows and make films available for booking on Blu-ray or DVD earlier because of the ease of pirating these formats. However, since the arrival of VoD (Video On Demand), release windows have become more flexible and some titles are now made available concurrent with their theatrical release.
Currently, most community cinemas still use Blu-ray or DVD because their kit needs to be affordable and transportable; and the digital projectors used to screen films from DCP (the standard professional cinema format) tend to be too costly and too big to be moved on a regular basis.
However, it’s likely that in the near future Blu-ray and DVD will become less widely used in community exhibition, with providers looking to digitally deliver downloadable film files instead.
Watch before you book!
It is always best to watch films before you programme them, making you better informed and giving you the knowledge and confidence to both market the films and discuss them with your audience.
To this end, we organise preview film screening events for cinemas and community exhibitors called Screening Days, where exhibitors of all kinds can come to watch a selection of key titles due for release in the next few months.
As well as our main Screening Days, we run specialised events with capacity-building sessions as well as film screenings around the areas of film for young audiences; archive film; and inclusion and diversity in cinema.
These are great events and incredibly beneficial for programmers, as you can watch preview films in a cinema space, network with other exhibitors and exchange ideas, opinions, experiences and tips. If you can’t attend in-person, we now offer online access to the majority of the film programme so you can watch films from home.
See upcoming events and register for our Screening Days email list.
How to book
Once you’ve decided on your films, you will need to book them.
Visit our What licences do I need? section for all details on how to book films non-theatrically, including booking via the main UK non-theatrical distributors, Filmbankmedia and MPLC.
In addition, for community cinemas and film societies, Cinema for All offer a booking scheme with a catalogue of pre-selected films, as do rural cinema networks like Arts Alive’s Flicks in the Sticks and Moviola.