Exhibition and Audience Development

Screen South is working with the UK Film Council as well as commercial and specialised exhibitors to stabilise and expand the ways in which film and video are presented to audiences.

Audiences

Screen South has a central commitment to increasing audiences for a wide variety of moving image media. We have a particular interest in promoting films made in the region and encouraging people to widen their experience of film by broadening access to non-mainstream cinema. Screen South is building relationships with cinemas in the region and is supportive of film societies and film festivals. In 2006, Screen South has supported 13 Film Festivals across the South East.

Where possible, Screen South is aiming to encourage audiences to actively engage with the films they see through supporting various education initiatives in the area. Many of the cinemas run education based screenings in conjunction with Film Education Week and most of the film festivals based in the area have a strong educational strand to their programming and events.

Exhibition

Film Festivals
The South East is home to an increasing number of exciting Film Festivals, many of which are gaining international acclaim. Screen South has supported 13 festivals in the area in the last year:

Britdoc
The Brighton International Film Festival
Breaking the Illusions Media Festival
Chichester Film Festival
End of the Pier Film Festival
Fresh Styles – Brighton Hip Hop Festival
Oxdox
Portsmouth Screen and New Media Festival
Same Difference Film Festival
Shot by the Sea
SEE Brighton Documentary Film Festival
Summerscreen
The Big Screen Southampton
Windsor Fringe Film Festival
2 Days Later Short Film Festival

If you have been to any screenings at any of the festivals we have supported and would like to give an account or review of the film or the festival as a whole, then please email them to alison.dilnutt@screensouth.org

Due to the high quantity of applications, the exhibition budget has been fulfilled. Therefore we will not be supplying any new Festival Funding in this financial year. New applications will be accepted in April 2007.



The UK Film Council, Screen South and the other regional screen agencies have been working to develop a solution to the programming needs of regional cinemas and film societies since the closure of the Cinema Services Dept. of the British Film Institute.

We are delighted to introduce you to the Independent Cinema Office

Established in July 2003, the independent Cinema Office (ICO) is a new national organisation that aims to develop and support independent film exhibition throughout Britain.

The ICO works in association with independent cinemas, film festivals, film socities and the regional and national screen agencies. The ICO's objectives are:
• to encourage excellence in film exhibition:
• to promote innovation, education, diversity and social inclusion:
• to support initiatives that develop audiences:
• to develop the sector through training:
• to increase awareness of the UK's flourishing independent cinema scene.

Film programming advice and bookings

Every cinema has different ambitions, different expectations and different audiences. The ICO works in partnership with film exhibitors, helping them to create unique, commercially viable programmes that appeal to the most diverse range of local audiences.

The ICO’s clients range from the internationally acclaimed Watershed Media Centre in Bristol to local authority-run cinemas such as Hull Screen to part time cinemas such as the Kino in Middlesborough. We also work with film festivals and film societies.

The ICO’s programming team has over 30 years of programming and film booking experience between them, offering an extraordinarily wide knowledge of contemporary and historic cinema and strong relationships with all UK film distributors.

Touring programmes

The ICO works with partners to curate and organise touring programmes of films that would not otherwise receive a national release.

Plans for 2004 include:
- the best of contemporary British short filmmaking (in association with Brief Encounters, Bristol).
- ¡Viva! Spanish Film Festival (curated by Cornerhouse, Manchester).

We are always looking to work with new partners, helping them to bring films to a UK-wide audience.

Training

Training is essential if the independent film exhibition sector to achieve its potential. We are currently planning a range of nationally and regionally based training courses for exhibitors including:

- film programming
- audience development
- running a film festival

Education

Complementing the work of national film education providers, the ICO will work to produce a range of materials that will support the release of new specialised films.

If you would like further information about any of the ICO’s activities, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Independent Cinema Office
6th Floor
155 Oxford Street
London
W1D 2JH

Tel 020 7287 5760
Fax 020 7287 5149
info@independentcinemaoffice.org.uk



News release 10/02/06

British Federation of Film Societies

The British Federation of Film Societies offers support to start up and develop film societies. For further information please visit: www.bffs.org.uk



NEWS RELEASE: 11/10/05

Arts Alliance & Digital Screen Network

For your information, Arts Alliance are running a website primarily aimed at providing info for exhibitors, distributors & producers, about the Digital Screen Network. The web address is: www.ukdsn.com