- The ICO turned fifteen this month. We’re so proud of everything we’ve achieved, the people and organisations we’ve worked with, but most importantly we’re proud of the experiences we’ve given to audiences, the chances to see truly life-changing art in the cinema. We put together this video to say thanks. Like any fifteen year old, we’re spending a lot of time looking out of windows and wondering what it all means, man. So, in the next month, we’ll be publishing a report on the future of cinemas, and we want your thoughts! Is Netflix going to kill moviegoing? Is there enough choice in programming? Take ten minutes to fill in this survey and help shape what projects we’ll take on in the next fifteen years.
- “REACH gives you the support to take your plans back to your venue. It’s invaluable – priceless.”Not our words, the words of a very happy participant on our REACH: Strategic Audience Development scheme. The deadline to take part in course, where you develop a project in your venue, get coached by experts and then get great new audiences, is less than two weeks away on 8 August. We had a great time talking to the alumni from the event and hearing about the ongoing impact. If we could bottle that enthusiasm, we’d be millionaires, but for now, how about getting your application in?
- Our re-release of Jacques Rivette’s The Nun lands in cinemas tomorrow and we are breaking convent-ion and getting back in the habit (so sorry). This piece by Pamela Hutchinson in the Guardian goes deep on why nuns and cinema have such a long-standing connection.
- Our next Screening Days event, ID (Inclusion & Diversity) Screening Day is all about finding practical ways to make sure your cinema is welcoming of everyone in its community. So we’re really glad to have two people who have done this work successfully: Gina Duncan (whose time at BAMcinématek in New York you can read about here) will be delivering our keynote. Mark Miller from Tate will be hosting a session on how they overcame barriers for young working class people to enter their galleries. Disobedience (from A Fantastic Woman director Sebastián Leilo) and Frantz Fanon: Black Skin White Mask (a restoration of Isaac Julien’s documentary) are the first films in our line up, with many more to come. Passes are available now, and the very affordable price includes lunch, refreshments and the evening drinks reception.
- Speaking of Screening Days, we are very close to being able to make passes available for Autumn Screening Days at Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle. The ICO office let out a collective squee when we heard the first three titles for the programme. Make sure you’re signed up to our mailing list to be the first to hear when passes are available and we can share them next week. And get the dates in your diary for this year and early next: we’ll be at BFI Southbank for both our Archive Screening Day (29 November 2018) and Spring Screening Days (2-4 March 2019).
- Our touring programme with Club des Femmes Revolt, She Said: Women and Film after ’68 continues to rip up the country. See where it’s playing near you and you can watch the trailer here.
ICO News
Opportunities
- Here’s a crazy fact for you: even after getting to that dream of making a movie, over 80% of first-time UK filmmakers never go on to make their second film. East End Film Festival are endeavouring to change that. Apply for their £10,000 Transit Award designed specifically to assist a filmmaker in the development of their second feature here.
- The UKCA and Action on Hearing Loss have launched a new fund for innovations in subtitling technology for cinemas. This is a really important step in making the cinema more accessible, so if you have ideas, get applying!
- Film Hub South East is looking for shorts from the best filmmakers in the South East. The deadline is this Tuesday and you can get your film screened in cinemas across the region, as well as some prizes to further your career. Apply by Film Freeway here.
- Europa Cinemas, the world’s largest network of cinemas that covers Europe and beyond, is open for applications for new members. This offers vital skills sharing and financial support for showing more foreign-language films. Apply here.
- This is your opportunity to shape This Way Up, the exhibition innovation conference. They are looking for creative, strategic individuals to join their Development Forum, shaping the programme of the film exhibition conference. If you want to help steer this particular ship, you’ve got until 10 August to apply.
- Speaking of having your say, FAN New Releases has just relaunched and they want your ideas about which films they should be supporting in distribution. Seen a film at Screening Days you really liked, but think you need some help to screen successfully? This is the place to let them know!
- Into Film Festival, the UK’s largest event for young people in film, is coming this November and your cinema can take part.
- The Cinema for All Conference, which includes the Film Society of the Year Awards, has just announced their full line up for September. It’s a genuinely heart-warming awards event and you can see the nominees (including many of ICO’s long-standing film society friends) over here.
- You can also register your cinema for the next European Art Cinema Day which will take place on Sunday 14 October.
- Film Hub North have just launched their guidelines for their funding for awards up to £30,000 for Northern exhibitors. Lovely new website too!
- There’s just DAYS left for your film society or a community screening group to apply for Filmbankmedia’s Innovation Fund (for up to £3,000) before the end of July.
- Encounters Film Festival’s programme of Deaf shorts is still booking, including the Oscar-winning The Silent Child.
- Open City Documentary Festival line up for September is out and it’s full of docs new and classic.
- Belfast Film Festival have also launched a short documentary strand. See their line up here.
Good reads
- Creative Europe (which the UK can still be part of regardless of the outcome of Brexit negotiations) have just published two really great reports on the impact of their funding in the UK. In a nutshell, membership of Creative Europe means UK films get more exposure in Europe, UK skills are exported more and we get a chance to see more European films. Read the whole thing here.
- ‘A revival of radical movies made by feminist and queer film-makers from the ’60s promises to show that revolutionary cinema and the spirit of 1968 isn’t all about angry young men.’ Read this Guardian article featuring our Revolt, She Said programme!
- ‘Why does the UK not have an independent cinema association?’ Well, we’ve got a pretty good idea (see point one in the article!), but some interesting viewpoints here.
- MoviePass may not be around forever, but it might have shaken up ticket pricing in cinemas forever.
- The two heavy hitters of the Autumn festival line up released their programmes. Venice has an enviable number of big names and projects worth salivating over, but you might notice one very important thing about it that’s missing. Toronto’s line up is also out and there’s just as much to get excited about for those who fancy a longer-haul flight (and, in my head, the chance to bump into Drake?).
- Nobody said starting your own cinema would be easy. So how do you get through the hard times? Screen25’s Katie Brandwood tells us how she came back from losing her venue and built a strong local audience.
- Hyde Park Picture House in Leeds is undergoing a major restoration and if you want to see how it’s going, take a look at this Guardian gallery.
- How can we help independent British film? The BFI convened a team of experts to produce this report, which has resulted in some big new initiatives for UK film funding.