Registration will be held from 8.30am each morning, at which you will be issued with a badge for the day(s) you are attending. This will be your entry pass into all screenings. The registration area will be staffed by the ICO throughout the event.  We’ll be on hand to offer advice on topics including programming, distribution, audience development and much more.

Screenings run between 9:00am and 5:30pm each day.

Screenings will be held in NFT1, NFT2 and NFT3 at BFI Southbank.

There is a drinks reception on Saturday evening for delegates to meet and network with fellow colleagues, to catch up on the all-important films of the day.

The main BFI Southbank foyer and box office entrance is on Theatre Avenue, by the National Theatre at street level.  There are stairs and a wheelchair accessible lift to gain access to the main foyer.  For full details on the accessibility of the BFI Southbank building please visit the ‘Access information’ page on the BFI’s website.

We work closely with distributors to select independent, world and art house cinema that will be released in the following quarter. We focus on titles that are unlikely to have a vast marketing budget so need the keen curatorial eye and advance notice that a viewing at Screening Days can provide for your programme. We also occasionally include titles with higher profiles, particularly in the lead-up to awards season, which we believe delegates will be keen to see in order to assess suitability for their programmes. Our goal is to provide you with the opportunity to see the widest range of films so you’re able to broaden programmes in your venues, and we hope the Screening Days programme reflects that.

We always try to finalise the schedule as soon as possible so you can plan ahead. Unfortunately, we are limited in how far in advance we can do so. Because distributors offering us their films often haven’t determined their schedule in advance, or are waiting on delivery of the materials, we often receive final confirmations quite close to the event. Then, in order to evenly space the films across the different screens, we need to carefully schedule the films, which takes time.

We try to give you as many breaks as possible between films and usually have morning, lunch and afternoon breaks, but are restricted by the availability of the screens and the length of the films.  Most cinemas can’t take out their evening public screenings due to conditions set by distributors, and so they don’t disappoint their local (paying) audience.  This means we can only screen films between 9am – 5.30pm.  We try to keep in mind that the main purpose of the event is for you to be able to see as many films as possible.

The purpose of Screening Days is to encourage strong audiences for a more diverse selection of films. Programmers, organisers (e.g. the most senior person in a community screen, members of the selection committee of a film society) and marketers are the people in a best position to both select films and advocate for these films in their venues. We are often oversubscribed, so this is the fairest way to ensure that key staff get the opportunity to attend.

Our Screening Days events have been selling out for the past few years and we now limit the number of passes per any one organisation to four. This is to ensure that the largest possible number of organisations can attend Screening Days to maximise their benefit across the film exhibition sector.

As we only screen three films at any one time, you will still be able to see all of the titles shown.

Attendees must also be engaged in one of the following roles within their organisation: programming, marketing, education, audience development, or on the selection committee of a film society/club.

Our funders for Screening Days, in addition to the distributors that lend us their films, now stipulate that exhibitors must hold 12 or more screenings per year to attend (and must have done so in the year to date).

The Film Hubs may be able to offer support in the form of bursaries towards fees, travel and accommodation for their members to attend Screening Days. For further information and/or links to contact your local Hub to enquire, see below:

• Film Hub Midlands http://filmhub.broadway.org.uk
• Film Hub London http://filmlondon.org.uk/film-hub-london/support-for-exhibitors/film-hub-bursaries
• Film Hub North https://filmhubnorth.org.uk/contact
• Film Hub Northern Ireland filmhubni.org/Hub-Services
• Film Hub Scotland http://www.filmhubscotland.com/opportunities/training
• Film Hub South East
• Film Hub South West
  https://www.watershed.co.uk/filmhub/filmhub/opportunities/bursaries
• Film Hub Wales http://filmhubwales.org/support/ico-screening-days

As mentioned during online registration, our registration process has changed. In the past, we requested payment after approving your registration, and you would receive a separate email to confirm your passes were approved.

Now, we take payment from your account immediately when you book your passes and you will only receive one automatic booking confirmation email at this point. If you don’t receive this email, please check your junk/spam folder.

If there is any problem with your eligibility we’ll contact you within five working days to refund your fees, but otherwise you may assume your registration was successful.

If you have any queries or issues booking your pass, email info@independentcinemaoffice.org.uk.

No. While we appreciate your enthusiasm (or otherwise) for films you see at Screening Days, the terms that we receive the films under completely prohibit any social media or film forum discussion of films in the Screening Days programme, however positive it is! Distributors monitor social media channels for discussion of the films. Please do feel free to discuss the films in person with other delegates, and if you’d like to talk about the event in general on social media you can find us at @ICOtweets #ScreeningDays.