Welcome to the final ICO update for 2024, featuring the latest opportunities for your cinema, festival or film society, plus highlights from across the industry. We hope you have a happy, peaceful end to the year, and we’ll be back again in January.
ICO News
- An essential business course for cinema managers and leaders, Revisiting Your Cinema Business Course returns next year. Through a structured learning programme and six-month mentorship, this course will empower participants to develop sustainable business models and enable organisations to survive and thrive in the long term. Open to all BFI FAN members, applications are open until 7 March; click here to apply now.
- Want to engage with our shared history on film and discover how to use those histories to better connect with audiences? Archive Screening Days returns in January, giving you the chance to watch carefully curated archive material and exciting repertory cinema, as well as take part in sessions that provide the skills you need to share archive film with your audiences. The full programme has now been announced; click here to see everything on offer and to book your passes.
- The first titles for Spring Screening Days 2025 have now been announced – this is one of our most popular events so don’t wait to get your pass! Showcasing key upcoming titles, Spring Screening Days returns to BFI Southbank and our online platform next March.
- Learn new skills and save with 25% off all our online learning courses from 2 January! Sign up for our training mailing list for a reminder, and check out the courses on offer now!
Resources and Opportunities
- ‘Iris on the Move’ is back, giving UK exhibitors the opportunity to show award-winning and high-quality LGBTQ+ short films. Films are available in two curated packages (‘Best of Iris 2024’ and ‘Heroes, Heartbeats and Shorelines’) or individually, and the Iris Prize is asking for a small donation instead of a booking fee. Find out more on their page or by contacting Iris Prize.
- The Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA) has unveiled the ‘CIISA Standards‘, a set of expectations outlining best practices of behaviour across the UK’s creative industries. Read the guidelines here.
- Into Film is inviting cinemas of all sizes to participate in IF Spring Screenings, a UK-wide programme of free screenings for schools, 11 to 28 March 2025. Register your venue’s interest here, and to find out more, please contact Nellie Alston at Into Film.
- Register your interest for Creative Careers Week 2025 (17 to 21 November) to open your organisation to young people and welcome the next generation of creative talent. Click here to register.
- Engage in discussion and learn from practitioners about digital activities at the 2025 ‘Let’s Get Real’ conference hosted by the Audience Agency. Find out more and secure your place now.
- Understand the ‘Art of Fundraising’ with a new online training course from Apollo Fundraising, specifically designed with arts and cultural organisations in mind. Find out more and book via their website.
- The new BFI Film Audience Network website has just launched, featuring opportunities and events for FAN members across the UK. Check out the new site, and if you aren’t yet a FAN member, it’s free and easy to sign up.
- Reclaim the Frame is hosting a weekend of screenings in March to celebrate International Women’s Day and their own 20th anniversary; short film submissions are open now! This opportunity is open to filmmakers of marginalised genders; submit your work before 12 January to be considered.
Good Reads
- Read Florence Grieve’s account of visiting SQIFF, a film festival which was fully accessible to her as a deaf audience member
- The ICO team looks back at 2024; writing about their favourite indie hits, blockbuster moments, and exhibition highlights.
- The Arts Professional highlight Chickenshed Theatre, an organisation which has been embracing diversity and inclusion for 50 years.
- Film Comment has highlighted their favourite films from 2024 currently awaiting distribution.
- The British Council reflects on 90 years of work within arts and culture.
- See Sight and Sound’s list of the 50 best films of 2024.
- Screen Daily highlights the most significant discussions from Europa Cinema’s 2024 conference, including trends in repertory cinema and developing young audiences.
- Read ‘Optics: A Conversation with Shayana Filmore’, discussing her experiences within exhibition spaces and how having uncomfortable conversations is a necessary step for organisations to embrace true diversity.
- Little White Lies asks, ‘What is the truth about digital projection?’, comparing traditional and newer means of exhibiting in theatrical venues.
- Cinema for All turns a spotlight on the importance, available variety and popularity of screening repertory cinema – with many titles available through their own distribution service.
Header image: Phantom Beirut (dir. Ghassan Salhab), featured in Archive Screening Days 2025. Courtesy of Revenante Films.