ICO News
As ever, LOTS going on with ICO this month. Can’t stop, won’t stop!
- BAFTA Debuts is a chance for your cinema to screen some career-making cinema from some of Britain’s top talent. We’ve got new DCPs and 35mm prints on exclusive booking terms, so now is the time to do a mini-season celebrating British women filmmakers or share the underseen gems from the talent behind Amy, 12 Years a Slave and A United Kingdom. Take a look at the seven films over here and book now for June, July and August.
- We’ve just come back from the delightful city of Vilnius, Lithuania talking about Developing Your Film Festival. With less than two weeks to apply and a stellar line up of speakers (headed up by TIFF’s artistic director Cameron Bailey), festival folks need to get their applications in ASAP. Want to get a flavour of the kind of knowledge we’re dropping? Screen International‘s Wendy Mitchell sat down with us for a Twitter Q&A and you can read the round up here.
- Also coming round VERY quickly is our Young Audiences Screening Day at Showroom in Sheffield. We’ve announced four films and a line up of speakers that covers all aspects and skill levels of young audience development. Every cinema should be thinking about engaging audiences under 30, and this is a great place to start or build on where you are now. Don’t take our word for it: Roseanna Dias from Watershed gave us her top three reasons why you should come over.
- As for our main Screening Days events, we’ve just opened registration for our Summer Screening Days. This is the first time we’ll be heading to the Phoenix in Leicester for three days of great previews and networking. Our last event sold out, so get your pass now as we hate disappointing people as much as we love showing great films (a lot!).
- Friday sees the release of our spangly David Lynch-approved 4K restoration of Mulholland Drive, one of our widest ever releases, as you might expect from ‘the Twentieth Century’s best film’ (according to the BBC). There’s been plenty of press coverage (including this interview with star Laura Harring and this reconsideration from the Guardian). Projectionists, you have your orders from Mr Lynch himself on how it should be played.
- Britain on Film: Black Britain is our latest archive programme in our Britain on Film on Tour. We’ve had some great reports from communities across the UK feeling the power of archive. Check out the trailer below for this great new programme showing the history of black Britons from 1901 to 1985.
Opportunities and Calls for Submissions
- The BFI have launched their revamped Audience Fund, now replacing the distribution, film festivals, programming development and Neighbourhood Cinema funding. If you want to boost screen and audience diversity and inclusivity, get applying!
- The BFI Film Audience Network want to hear about how your venue is doing in developing accessible cinema. Whether you’re well on your way or need support or have questions, it’s well worth filling out their short survey as it will help shape the support they can offer in the coming years. Deadline Monday.
- Scottish exhibitors should check out Film Hub Scotland’s Atomic scheme which offers 1,000 (from a total pot of 10,000) for projects to broaden audiences and increase engagement with a diverse range of cinema. Good goal, good money: get applying by 15 May.
- Speaking of cold hard cash to do make your dreams come true, Filmbankmedia have relaunched their Innovation Fund. Two awards of 3,000 and 2,000 are available for film societies old and new who want to try new things. Equipment, workshops, working with new groups and more: this is your chance to go above and beyond.
- The full line up for the essential Black Film British Cinema conference is now online and there’s some heavy hitters in the mix.
Read more
- Tour des Cinemas went across the whole of Europe in search of ideas to start their own cinema. They produced an incredible report that showcases best practice that any cinema can implement. Give it a read!
- On the subject of cool examples to learn from, Arthouse Tales is a regular part of the annual Art House Convergence in the United States and you can watch all the sessions here.
- The line up for Cannes’ main competition strands was released earlier today, to much cineaste salivation. Team ICO is going to be hitting the Croissette hard and sharing our thoughts on what films you should look out for for your audiences.
- Do you want to prove to funders and local authorities that your cinema has social impact? This toolkit from Regional Screen Scotland has a useful framework that can really help demonstrate you do more than just ticket and popcorn sales.
- One young audience initiative that’s going from strength to strength is young programmers schemes. BFI FAN Young ProgrammersNetwork has completed their evaluation (by Network Coordinator Dan Thomas) and you can have a read by emailing YPN@broadway.org.uk. Want to know what it’s like to be a young programmer? We spoke to two of the Barbican’s Chronic Youth team on our blog.
- Want to turn your email database into Facebook fans? This post from Film Hub North blog shows you an inexpensive audience of engaged people.
- Ticketing pages aren’t the most exciting subject, but they are the bit that means you get bums on seats, and this blog from Watershed shows you how to improve them incrementally to work out what matters most.
- ‘The cinema business hasn’t innovated in thirty years,’ says Netflix boss. Tim League of the Alamo Drafthouse has an inspiring response.