ID Screening Days 2022
(Inclusion & Diversity)

‘Nothing About Us Without Us’ was the rallying cry of the Disability Rights Movement. But this powerful approach is effective in all contexts where diversity is lacking. If diversity is not represented within our organisations, we need to discover ways of creating with new partners. But how can this be done equitably, thoughtfully and safely, so both sides are set up for long-term success? From setting up advisory boards to open calls to co-creation committees, we’ll discuss the best ways to integrate co-creation into your work.

Are we truly including people in our audiences or superficially engaging at convenient moments? The South West Asian and North African (SWANA) audience has faced both stereotyping onscreen and marginalisation as audience members in the UK. What ties this region together is geographical location, linguistics, cultural and religious similarities, and colonial history. In this session, we’ll  provide case studies of authentic inclusion with SWANA audiences, which will help understand the complexities and commonalities of this group, to guide you towards long-term community-led or venue-led inclusion of these audiences.

Improving access for D/deaf and disabled people in your venue or for your events can feel overwhelming. There are so many places to start, and this work is often taken forward by individuals without the support of a broader strategy. Led by Oska Bright Film Festival, this session is designed to create an honest and open space to talk about shared challenges with other industry members about how to welcome learning disabled audiences, with a partner who can help you find approaches that work for the resources you have right now. Our aim is for this session to lead to an ongoing platform for cinemas to help increase knowledge, confidence and solidarity, as well as sharing practical approaches that work. Everyone is welcome, whatever your current provision and awareness is of disabled access.

Many film festivals and cinema have started to integrate ‘trans-related’ content to their programme, whether these are shorts, feature followed by Q&As or films with trans protagonists. The real question remains: how can we make cinemas more accessible for trans people as audience members and invited guests? Mia Georgis and Alice Blanc will present Trans+ on Screen, a directory for trans professionals in film and TV for actors and writers as well as programmers, curators, and people in the distribution industry. Using Trans+ on Screen as a tool, the session will look at marketing to and reaching a trans audience, as well as creating networks for trans people. It’ll also cover case studies from Mia’s curation to show the unique difference trans content created by trans people can make for your cinema.

There are more films featuring Black creative talent than ever before, but what the industry fails to realise is that this, on its own, does not equal representation. This should be measured based on a diversity of lived experiences, not just faces. The critical and commercial success of Black trauma-led films has had an inadvertent effect; perpetuating a belief that these are the only stories from this community that can thrive on the big screen. As a result, festival programmers see including films with a focus on Black joy as a ‘risk’, which in turn leads to fewer of these films being funded and ultimately the real life implication of making audiences question if Black joy is even real. In this session, our panel will unpack: the industry’s inherent bias towards Black trauma-led stories, how independent cinemas can create a safe space for Black audiences to feel joyful and how to build an ecosystem where these films can thrive economically.

ICO’s new Right of Way programme considers the history of our rural spaces and who has access to them now. In this audience development session following a screening of the artists’ films, we’ll have space to look at the specific preferences of rural audiences and discuss the most successful modes of outreach for innovative programming. We’ll hear from Right of Way project manager Jemma Buckley and Alchemy Film & Arts on their long-term process to get audiences in the Scottish Borders to ‘embrace the strange’.

Cinemas and festivals often focus on audience development work that encourages people to engage in ‘film culture’ as defined by curators and artists. But what if our challenges in engagement stem from ignoring what audiences themselves understand as ‘culturally important’? In this presentation, University of Manchester Professor Andrew Miles – whose work focuses on the meanings and value of ‘everyday’ culture – will look at why narrow interpretations of which types of culture are ‘good’ for us could be excluding major parts of your audience.