Our regular monthly update featuring the latest news and opportunities for your cinema, festival or film society.
ICO News
- We’re looking for a new Marketing Coordinator to join our team! This is a unique opportunity to work on a diverse range of projects and an excellent chance for someone to develop their career in the independent cinema sector. Find out full details about the role and apply by this Monday, 29 July.
- Registration is now open for Autumn Screening Days, a hybrid event running at Broadway, Nottingham and online. We’re holding the usual in-person preview screenings from 16-18 November, with as many films as possible from the programme also available online from 18-24 November. We’re also holding an in-person audience development day for theatrical venues on Friday 15 November. In-person tickets usually sell out, so book soon if you’re planning on joining us in Nottingham.
- Plus, mark your calendars for our following two Screening Days events: Archive Screening Days will take place online on 28 January and at Hyde Park Picture House in Leeds on 30 January, while Spring Screening Days will run in-person at BFI Southbank from 1-2 March, with an audience development day on 28 February. Both events will have an accompanying online film programme screening beyond these dates.
- Last weekend, we headed to Wrocław, Poland to host our International Festivals Summit, in partnership with mBank New Horizons International Film Festival. We were joined by 14 members of our International Film Festival Network to discuss the state of the sector, future collaborations and more. Head over to Screen to read more about the results of our festivals survey and our new IFFN Collaboration Fund (funded by the British Council), which we announced at the Summit.
- Written by Ellie Hales, our latest guide looks at how exhibitors can get films classified by local authorities in the absence of a BBFC certificate.
- This month, we published blogs on the best films we saw at Il Cinema Ritrovato this year, how to deliver audio description in non-theatrical cinemas and a case study in using archive film to engage diverse audiences.
Opportunities & Resources
- Early Bird tickets for BFI FAN CON are now sold out, so FAN Members and freelancers can book passes at the regular rate while they last. Keep an eye out for the first programme details which are set to be announced very soon!
- Cinema Rediscovered is going on tour! A programme of highlights from the festival is available for UK & Ireland venues to book for screenings from August – January! Titles include Charles Burnett’s The Annihilation of Fish (one of our favourites from Il Cinema Ritrovato), Venezuelan love letter to cinema El Cine Soy Yo and a Bela Tarr retrospective.
- Invisible Women and T A P E are joining forces to offer a new residential retreat for independent curators and collectives working in film & moving image. It takes place in the south of Sweden from 29 October – 2 November. Apply by 9 August.
- BFI FAN’s Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Champion, Charlie Little has created a new digital bulletin that brings together recent news articles, events and projects related to film sector accessibility. Read the July Accessible Cinema Bulletin here.
- Filmbankmedia is running a special offer for non-theatrical screenings of 50 of their titles until 2 September. Choose from their handpicked selection and screen them at the reduced rate of £70 anytime from now until the end of the year.
- Want to grow your film festival’s audience? Watch a recording of Film Hub Scotland’s recent webinar with freelance consultant Emma Jamieson on marketing your film festival.
- Film Fest Gent’s Young Critics Workshop (13-19 October 2024) is open to aspiring film critics aged 18-26 from Belgium and abroad, offering them the opportunity to cover the 51st edition of the event. Apply by 1 September.
- Created by Scott Blair, The Edinburgh Film Festivals & Cinemas Archive is dedicated to the history of Edinburgh’s wide range of film festivals and cinemas. It currently includes some past programmes from cinemas and festivals in the city, which you can browse. Get in touch with Scott if you have further material to add to the collection.
- The Film and TV Charity’s 2024 Looking Glass Survey closes in just a few weeks. Make sure you have your say in the latest version of its respected mental health research before it’s too late.
- Emerging film critics! Applications for the Berlinale Talents 2025 Talent Press are open. Apply by 4 September to review the Berlinale films, explore the future of film journalism and connect with fellow critics and cinephiles from around the world.
- Enter your film to be considered for the 2025 Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival. Taking place in England’s most northerly town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the 20th edition will be taking place 27-30 March 2025.
Good Reads
- How can we make variable codes of conduct for how we behave in the cinema space?
- Programming the work of Stephanie Rothman in the UK
- Béla Tarr on how film can fight the political right in Hungary
- Children’s cinema: what we watch with our children and why (podcast)
- Remembering Shelley Duvall
- Hope doesn’t exist if you’ve never seen it: Payal Kapadia on All We Imagine as Light
- On the work of Brazilian video artist Eunice Gutman
- How the synthesizer changed the sound of cinema
- No Trees in the Street: Melvyn Hayes on his ‘angry young man’ beginnings
- Rediscovering Yasuzo Masumura: an overlooked veteran of postwar Japanese cinema
- Girls gone wild: Il Cinema Ritrovato 2024
- The perverse magic of long ago: John Greyson on his landmark film Lilies
- An experimental film programme for children
- Sessue Hayakawa: cinema’s forgotten sex symbol who was saved from death by his dog
- Daydreamer: a conversation with Sara Driver
- The Olympics in Mexico: On a particularly artistic depiction of a historic year of Olympic games
- Occupational hazards: the stunt performer on screen
- El Cine Soy Yo: a love letter to cinema
- The line-up for this year’s Venice Film Festival
- Black God, White Devil: feeding on hunger
- Already Gone: Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2024
- Chris Marker’s imaginary Japan
Header image: ICO Director Catharine Des Forges speaking at our International Festivals Summits in Wrocław, Poland last weekend