Join us for the fifth annual Film Hub South East Member Forum, a chance for exhibitors from across the South East to come together and hear from their peers about engaging audiences. There will be case studies of successful projects, presentations about upcoming opportunities, showcases of the South East’s newest filmmaking talent and chances to network and develop professional relationships. The Member Forum takes place on Tuesday 11 March 2025 at BFI Southbank in London.
Registration for the 2025 Film Hub South East Forum is now open and will close on Friday 21 February 2025.
A full schedule for the Film Hub South East Forum is now available.
If you have any queries about the event, your eligibility, or registering online, read our FAQ below or contact us at: filmhubse@independentcinemaoffice.org.uk
Costs
The Film Hub South East Members Forum costs £10 per delegate. Registration includes refreshments throughout the day (including lunch and the evening networking reception) as well as access to all sessions.
Bursary support
If you would like to apply for additional support to attend (whether towards the cost of your travel, accommodation, childcare or other) you may be eligible for a Film Hub South East bursary. Find out more.
Eligibility
The Forum is an industry event for members of Film Hub South East. Members can be cinemas, film festivals, film societies and community cinemas based in the South East region of England (as defined by the BFI). The Forum is open to all staff at member organisations.
If you’re not yet a Film Hub South East member, it’s free and easy to join. You can apply here.
Or if you’re not sure if you’re organisation is a member, get in touch at filmhubse@independentcinemaoffice.org.uk.
Travel
BFI Southbank
Belvedere Rd,
London,
SE1 8XT
BFI Southbank sits on the South Bank under Waterloo Bridge in London. For local travel information, see BFI Southbank’s website.
For full details on the accessibility of the BFI Southbank building please visit their accessibility page.
Planning your journey
Use Transport for London’s (TFL) Journey Planner service and live travel news.
Schedule
Introduction from FHSE & Upcoming FAN Opportunities
In the first session of the day, we’ll share some of our findings from the previous year and look ahead at the opportunities that will be available to you as members of BFI FAN in 2025, with contributions from Hub lead organisations across the country.
What’s happening at the UK box office
We are delighted to welcome Charles Gant, who will review last year’s data to provide some context on the industry’s current state. Expect a deep dive into statistics specific to the South East region, offering helpful insights you can use across other sessions on the day.
An introduction to the Film Exhibition Fund
We want the process of funding in Film Hub South East to be accessible to all our members. In this session, Lily van den Broecke (Senior Manager, Film Hub South East) will introduce the Film Exhibition Fund, explain its priorities for the upcoming year and what we consider when making decisions. We particularly welcome people representing organisations that are yet to receive support from the Film Exhibition Fund.
Film Hub South East – Case studies from the region
Hear from some of your fellow members who have delivered successful projects over the last year, some with the support of the BFI FAN Film Exhibition Fund and some delivered as a project through the Cross-FAN training programme REACH: Strategic Audience Development. These case studies will focus on audience development within a venue, film festival and archive programmes.
Programming for young and neurodiverse audiences
For this session, we are delighted to welcome Julia Andrews-Clifford (Director, Electric Palace Hastings), who will walk us through the new audience development initiatives they have implemented to support young and neurodiverse audiences. As with all effective audience development initiatives, partnerships were the key to their success. This session will detail how the Electric Palace team found the right partners for their projects and fostered those relationships into successful projects.
Spotlight: Working with partners in underserved communities
The BFI FAN Spotlight project was established to develop activity and build an audience in culturally underserved communities – generally in partnership with locally based organisations. Emily Steele-Dias, Spotlight lead for Film Hub South East will be joined by two of the partners they have been working with in their Spotlight area to give us an insight into how you can effectively build partnerships in your area and how to use these partnerships to leverage more funding and cater to the needs of your local community.
Growing audiences with hometown stories
In this session, we are delighted to showcase some of the short films we have supported in the South East and welcome the talented filmmakers behind the films. But what are the opportunities for venues to build a public audience for local short film programmes? How can filmmakers and venues work together to serve their common interests? And why is it important for venues to nurture local filmmaking talent in the community? Join us for a short screening of South East shorts followed by a case study then group discussion.
Focus on Festivals – Panel
The South East region hosts a wide variety of film festivals, and we’re inviting all the festivals in the region to convene for this panel discussion to discuss how we can think differently about their role in film exhibition. The panel will cover how festivals can become more economically sustainable and target young audiences.
Speakers
Charles Gant
Awards/Box Office Editor of Screen International
Charles Gant is Awards/Box Office Editor of Screen International. Charles also writes the weekly Indie Box Office report for the BFI Film Audience Network of cinemas. The former Film Editor at Heat magazine, he continues as the publication’s main film critic. Charles is former Deputy Editor of style and culture journal The Face. He is a former critic for Variety and Screen International. Charles votes in both the British Independent Film Awards and BAFTA Film Awards, and has served on BAFTA juries many times. He speaks to various groups throughout the year, including typically at National Film & Television School (producers course, and programming & curation course) and Film Distributors Association (foundation course).
Julia Andrews-Clifford
Creative Director, Electric Palace Cinema
Julia has worked with young audiences for over 20 years, as Education Officer at the BFI, Managing Director of Cineclub the Young Film Network and Manager of Film Hub South East's Young Film Network, devising youth programmes and training opportunities for young filmmakers and film programmers. She is currently Creative Director at the Electric Palace Cinema, and runs the Young Electrics youth curator scheme as part of their youth audience development strategy. Julia is also a qualified teacher and has experience of running workshops and in-cinema activities for 16 - 25 year olds.
Anne-Marie Flynn
Executive Director, Chichester Cinema at New Park
Spent 16 years in magazine publishing, predominantly on Screen International, as Ad Director and then Publishing Director. Five years at BAFTA as Head of Awards was followed by 14 years at the BFI, initially to develop the reach of the London Film Festival and grow its international profile, then as its Head of Business and Industry and latterly as Managing Director of the Festival. I then got a bit burned out and four years ago decided to leave London and live by the sea. The intention was to spend my days gardening and painting, but then a little independent cinema in the heart of Chichester captured by heart, and after three years on the board, I became its Executive Director in 2023 and I love every minute of it. It’s a complete contrast to my previous work with a tiny team and really feeling embedded into the community.
Emily Steele-Dias
Director, Cine-Sister and Spotlight Lead
Emily Steele-Dias is a creative professional based in Peterborough, working as a freelance producer, curator, and artist. In 2017, she founded Cine-Sister CIC, an organisation dedicated to showcasing and promoting films by women filmmakers. In 2019, Cine-Sister CIC launched the Gateway Film Festival in Peterborough, a community-focused festival that celebrates a wide range of cinema while fostering connections within the local community. Gateway partners with various local organisations and groups to create a broad and eclectic programme including a fusion of film with other art forms such as dance, music, and poetry, engaging a wide range of audiences across the city. In 2023, Gateway Film Festival was selected to run the Film Hub South East branch of the BFI Spotlight project developing new long-term screening programmes with partners around Peterborough.
FAQ
How do I register on the day?
Registration for attendees will be held in the morning at the Film Hub South East desk in BFI Southbank. You will be issued with a badge which will give you access to all sessions.
You don’t need to bring a printed version of your ticket with you.
What is the schedule for the day?
We don’t have a precise schedule yet, but the estimated timings are 9:30am – 5pm (followed by a drinks reception).
We’ll list sessions and speakers on this page as they’re announced and circulate a full schedule as soon as possible.
Where will sessions be held?
Sessions will be held in NFT3 and The Blue Room.
Do I need to bring refreshments?
All refreshments (including tea and coffee, lunch and the evening drinks reception) will be provided.
How accessible is the BFI Southbank?
For full details on the accessibility of the BFI Southbank building please visit their accessibility page.
Code of Conduct
- We want our events to be fun, inclusive spaces for film professionals. We expect people attending and working at the event to maintain our code of conduct so that it can stay fun and inclusive. Harassment and bullying have no place at ICO/Film Hub South East events.
- Examples of inappropriate behaviour that contravenes our code of conduct include offensive verbal comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other events, aggressive behaviour, inappropriate physical contact and unwelcome sexual attention.
- If you feel uncomfortable, or someone behaves inappropriately towards you, or you witness something inappropriate, please report it to a member of ICO/Film Hub South East staff or email info@independentcinemaoffice.org.uk. Your complaint will be treated with confidence and discretion. We are happy to help you and can help report inappropriate behaviour to the authorities, where necessary or address the problem ourselves where more appropriate. We reserve the right to refuse entry to anyone who does not comply with our code of conduct. This code of conduct applies both in person and online.
- If you would like to speak to an independent organisation about an issue, the Film and TV Charity have a free and confidential helpline available on 0800 054 00 00. It operates seven days a week, 24 hours a day.
Part of
How to apply
Registration for the Film Hub South East Members Forum is open now. Capacity is limited so please register as soon as possible.
Registration will close on Friday 21 February 2025.
If your circumstances change and you are no longer able to attend the Forum after registration, please contact us to cancel your ticket and get a refund so we can release the space for other potential attendees.
Criteria
Eligibility
The Film Hub South East Members Forum is an industry event for staff and volunteers of member exhibitor organisations (such as the staff of Film Hub South East member cinemas, film festivals, film societies and community cinemas) based in the South East region (as defined by the BFI). It’s also for people who might be interested in beginning film screenings in their local area and want to learn more about our support and schemes.
Passes are strictly non-transferable.
If your organisation is not currently organising any activity in the South East region, you may not be able to attend this event.
If you have any queries about the event, your eligibility or registering online, read the event FAQ or contact us at: filmhubse@independentcinemaoffice.org.uk