ICO News
- Registration is now open for Virtual Young Audiences Screening Days, an online event where cinema professionals can watch upcoming films and take part in sessions exploring key issues around young audience development.
- We’ve launched two paid freelance roles to help us make Screening Days better. The first is an open call for Guest Curators for Virtual Young Audiences Screening Days to develop film programmes and/or curated sessions to help engage audiences of children and people aged 16–30. The second is a bigger piece of work to join a Screening Days Advisory Group, helping to shape the whole future of the event.
- We’re delighted to be partnering with Studiocanal to bring Ousmane Sembène’s Mandabi to UK cinemas for the very first time on 11 June. A vivid feast for eyes and ears, this new 4K restoration is an ideal choice for venues planning to reopen their doors this summer.
- In our next Core Skills for Cinemas webinar on Thursday 13 May, the BFI’s Programme and Research Manager Simon Duffy will be giving his top tips on tracking down and securing access to rare and sought-after titles.
- We’re pleased to have partnered with Indigo Ltd to develop the Culture Restart Cinema Tracker, a new tool to help venues respond to and build confidence in audiences ahead of reopening. Register here if you want to get involved.
- We’re hiring! Our Marketing and Communications Manager is going on maternity leave and we’re looking for someone to cover for them during this one-year period (June 2021 – May 2022). Find more information and our recruitment pack here.
- We’re looking to commission new writing for our blog. If you have an idea about film exhibition which you’d like to explore, read our guidelines and get in touch.
Opportunities
- The FAN Film Exhibition Fund has been launched to help FAN members to resume cultural programming and engage a broad and diverse audience. Visit your local Film Hub’s website for more information.
- National Lottery Cinema Weekend will now take place 19-20 June 2021, providing National Lottery players a pair of free adult cinema tickets at participating venues. Register here to get involved. For more information please see the campaign summary and FAQs.
- Film Feels is returning for 2021, welcoming programmes and events that look at films imbued with hope, dreams of the future, and new ways of reimagining film itself. Organisations can apply for funding of up to £5,000 to present screenings and engagement activity as part of the season.
- Applications to Cinema For All’s Filmbankmedia Welcome Back Fund close on Friday 30 April. The fund provides start-up costs to cover the first screening a community cinema puts on following the lifting of lockdown restrictions.
- For venues preparing for reopening, the UKCA and Screen Skills have have developed a COVID-19 awareness training module for cinema workers, which explains the safety measures and systems that may be in place when you return to work.
- There are currently roles available at the BFI, BIFA, Storyhouse, Hyde Park Picturehouse, Showroom Workstation, HOME, Reading Biscuit Factory and more.
- Inclusive Cinema’s Dismantling Structural Inequality in Your Cinema toolkit provides a guide to those working across programming, operations and marketing to deliver a safe and inclusive space.
- Deaf Awareness Week 2021 runs from 3-9 May. We created our Developing Deaf Audiences for Film guide to help exhibitors understand the challenges Deaf people face in the cinema, and what you can do to make the experience more pleasurable, welcoming and well-presented.
- The Creative Industries Federation are looking for expressions of interest to join their UK Council. The group plays a significant advisory role in shaping the Federation’s strategic priorities and provide crucial insight, feedback and advice.
- London’s Apne Film Club are reviving and archiving the South Asian cinema clubs that were found wherever migrated populations settled in the UK from the 1950s to 1980s. Help them build this important archive by sending your stories, photos, flyers and memories to: apnefilmclub@gmail.com
- The UKCA has published new guidance for the operation of drive-in cinemas in England.
- Vocal Eyes is currently offering artists and arts organisations a significant discount on audio description services for a limited period.
- The International Federation of Film Archives has launched the Programming Game, an easy way for film fans to create their own online programme using films freely accessible online.
- To help with costs and to accommodate social distancing measures, Filmbankmedia are bringing back their pricing offers to help non-theatrical cinemas get back up and running.
- A further £6.5 million has been awarded by the BFI to independent cinemas across England as part of the 2nd round of the Culture Recovery Fund.
- Sheffield Doc Fest has announced the details of their 2021 Retrospective Programme, which will celebrate the history of Black British Cinema.
Good reads/watches
- A look at Black female villainy
- Documenting India’s endangered cinemas
- Attending industry events in lockdown
- What we miss about going to the cinema
- Films about how people have migrated, sought refuge, and settled, in and out of Africa
- Caligari, a new multimedia publication of cinema, arts, and letters
- Exploring mourning with Minari
- Being part of a Young Film Programmers group during a pandemic
- Shasha, the streaming service dedicated to cinema from South-West Asia and North Africa
- On Otto Preminger’s Angel Face
- What happened to Vikki Dougan?
- Barry Jenkins on The Underground Railroad and the white gaze
- The 100 best Korean films
- How should Black and Indiginous filmmakers depict trauma?
- A season of films celebrating roots, rebirth and rebellion
Image: Mandabi, dir. Ousmane Sembène