ID Screening Days 2024
(Inclusion & Diversity)

Amidst highly volatile cultural change and growing calls to action, how can film – and film organisations – responsibly contribute to conversations that matter? How can we support discussions in our networks and communities that contribute to empathy, solidarity and democracy in a media environment that makes living in line with our values ever more complex? In this workshop session, led by writer, film and talks programmer Nadia Maria Oliva, we will consider the groundwork needed to make positive and active decisions in programming and platforming the discussions that audiences are seeking from film organisations.

While ‘relaxed’ screenings are becoming more common, cinemas can do more to make neurodivergent people feel comfortable and included in their regular screening programming. In this session, led by writer Lillian Crawford, you’ll hear from practitioners who have taken the journey of defining what a space that supports neurodiversity looks like, building confidence in reaching people across the spectrum of neurodiversity, both in full-time cinemas and pop-up settings.

More needs to be done to welcome disabled audiences into cinemas. The conversation often ends at access, but that’s only half the story. Disability on screen has a fraught history – one of stereotypes, omissions and repression – but it’s also rich, complex and joyful. Led by curator Emily Simmons, Crip Cinema Archive documents disability on screen. It defines ‘crip cinema’ as films that speak to something about the crip experience, speak to crip audiences, or that have a crip writer, director or lead actor. This session will explore possible definitions of crip cinema and what makes an authentic disabled story, with the aim of giving attendees greater confidence in programming and sharing these films, as well as some examples of where this approach has made a significant impact with disabled audiences in exhibition.

It’s easy to see ‘your audience’ as simply the people who book tickets for films, but this is only one way that they can interact with your space. Helping people find other entry points not only makes your venue more accessible, shows wider solidarity and enables you to access more funding, it also increases the likelihood people will overcome threshold anxiety and consider buying a ticket. Can people sit inside without the expectation they buy something? Are your toilets available to the public? What training should you consider for your FOH team? And how can you do this when you only have limited space? Using examples from across the cultural sector, we’ll look at the benefits and challenges of becoming more radically open.

Audience development work is much easier when you have a clear sense of the priorities of the group or community you’re trying to reach, and even easier if you’re a member of it yourself. In this session, we present two case studies from Harriet Taylor of SWITCH (Bristol) and Devon Daley of Feel Good Film Club (Derby), who are working with both established and pop-up venues and how they have taken a curious, detailed approach to building events that are highlights for the communities they’re working with.

How can we make sure the organisations we are building reflect the socio-economic backgrounds of the people in our community – and what are all the reasons it’s important? In the light of the Creative Industries Policy and Research Group report on audiences and the workforce showing that six out of ten workers in the creative industries come from middle class backgrounds, what are the practical steps we can take to build a film exhibition workforce where people from varied backgrounds can make an impact on audiences?

In this workshop, led by Cinema and Film Exhibition Freelancer and FAN Socio Economic Champion Linnea Pettersson, we will look at ways your organisation can recruit and retain people from wider socio-economic backgrounds.