BFI FAN CON

A session that will look back on the first three years of Escapes and dive into the data from the programme.

Escapes is a nationwide initiative, supported by the BFI, with a primary focus on making cinema accessible to all. Now in its third year, the programme has collected a wealth of data on its impact on audiences across the country, offering valuable evidence of what works in practice. This session will feature updates from the team delivering the project, sharing insights into audience trends and the key successes that other exhibitors can learn from and apply within their own venues.

This session brings together three case studies that have put programming at the forefront of their organisation, exploring how this ethos helps them connect with their local communities and grow their audiences.

Jali Collective is a grassroots collective whose purpose is to widen access to African cinema. Maona Cinema, born out of Maona Art, was created to address the absence of African cinema in the UK, and has recently brought this drive into a new independent venue in Oswestry. Together, these two organisations show how centring underrepresented stories can shape an organisation’s entire identity, from grassroots collective to bricks-and-mortar cinema. Station Cinema, Richmond, offers a different model. They have adapted their programming to serve and integrate their local refugee community, showing how a programming ethos can respond directly to the needs of a specific place.

A workshop that will ensure all delegates leave with a marketing plan that they can deliver successfully with minimal spend.

Not every marketing win requires a big budget. This workshop is designed for film exhibitors looking to raise their profile, build audiences, and boost engagement without spending a penny.

We’ll explore a range of practical, no-cost approaches to marketing, from making the most of social media and email newsletters to building local partnerships and word-of-mouth. We’ll also look at how to repurpose existing content and assets, use free tools and platforms effectively, and get creative with limited time and resources.

Whether you’re a small independent venue or part of a larger organisation looking to stretch your marketing budget further, this session will leave you with actionable ideas you can put into practice straight away.

This session brings together two inspirational case studies from pioneering European organisations, offering UK exhibitors a fresh outlook on what’s possible for independent cinemas.

One case study comes from Tynset Kommune in Norway, a small municipally-run cinema serving a community of just over 5,000 people. Despite its size, Tynset Kino has become known for its innovative, data-driven approach to programming, using AI tools and detailed audience analysis to make smarter scheduling decisions and build a distinctive cinema identity, from midnight premieres to creative programming choices that go beyond simply chasing box office numbers.

They will be joined by a further case study, showcasing how another pioneering European organisation has rethought what an independent cinema can achieve. Together, these examples will help UK exhibitors to think differently about scale, resource, and ambition, proving that bold, creative approaches to cinema can thrive anywhere, however small the setting.

Co-produced by Reclaim The Frame, this session considers how exhibitors can better care for audiences when presenting films that contain potentially distressing themes and scenes, and can lead to hard post-screening conversations. How can exhibitors create the conditions for audiences to engage with challenging content while feeling informed, prepared and respected?

Through a series of case studies, contributors will share approaches to audience care across the full screening journey: from positioning and promoting films, to content notes, introductions, post-screening discussions and partnerships with specialist organisations. Drawing on experiences from Reclaim The Frame’s campaign for An Army of Women with Together Films and Rape Crisis, Leeds Queer Film Festival’s approach to content notes, and Take One Action’s recently published guidance on facilitating film discussions, the session will offer practical ideas for creating safer cinema spaces and braver conversations around challenging work.

A session delivered in partnership with FilmbankMedia covering best practise for hosting outdoor screenings that can boost audiences for year-round activity.

Gain fresh insights from the Audience Screen Engagement Tracker (ASET), revealing what young audiences are watching, their motivation for visiting the cinema, and their evolving attitudes and behaviours towards the big screen.

Brian Tarran, Senior Research & Statistics Editor at the British Film Institute (BFI), will open the session with fresh insights from the Audience Screen Engagement Tracker (ASET), revealing what young audiences are watching, their motivation for visiting the cinema, and their evolving attitudes and behaviours towards the big screen.

Following this, we will welcome in-depth case studies from exhibitors who have had trackable success with young people, drawing on their data to assess these evolving attitudes and behaviours within their own audience.

A session introducing the work of the UK Green Film Network, providing practical insights on how attendees can programme and host sustainable events. 

Despite over 80% of the public expressing concern over climate change and a support for protecting our environment, Green Screen programming can feel like a risk. This session will address the common concerns over programming environmental films, with case studies from independent cinemas, small chains and boutique distributors evidencing the high demand for Green Screen programming around the country. We will show how cinemas have achieved sustainable, reliable audiences for environmental films, how to develop those audiences away from “preaching to the choir”, and how collaboration with local grassroots organisations can bring new audiences into your venues.

A session on why genuine exclusivity, not growth tactics, is what keeps a cinema newsletter worth opening, and what that means as social becomes a less reliable way to reach audiences.

As paid social reach becomes less predictable and audiences grow tired of content overload, many cinemas are shifting focus back to the channels they own outright, starting with the newsletter. Drawing on her experience at Yorck Kino, a Berlin arthouse cinema group, Patricia Cüppers will talk through what it actually takes to keep a newsletter relevant: treating it as a place for real exclusivity, not a duplicate of what’s already on social media or the website. She’ll share what’s worked, what hasn’t, and what the team is still figuring out, drawing on concrete practice from Yorck’s own newsletter, and offering a way of thinking about newsletters that’s transferable regardless of an organisation’s size or resources.

A session bringing together marketing experts from leading independent cinemas across the UK to demonstrate effective usages of data for bringing in audiences.

Data analytics can feel intimidating, but using the information available to us can help us to understand audience behaviour and habits. Three flagship independent cinemas from across the UK share practical ways we can make smart data-driven decisions across programming, scheduling, and marketing to set us up for success

This session explores how grassroots, volunteer-led programming builds thriving film communities in very different settings, from remote rural Scotland to inner-city Edinburgh.

Skye Community Cinema, recently named Film Society of the Year by Cinema for All, screens exclusively independent films and treats each event as a full cultural experience – a welcome drink, a short from an emerging filmmaker, the feature, and a Q&A – offering a replicable model for rural cultural provision and grassroots filmmaker development.

Leith Kino, a weekly, collaboratively programmed cinema night based in a community pub in Edinburgh, has grown from receiving a small funding grant into a self-sufficient operation screening niche cinema to sold-out audiences.

These case studies cover collaborative programming, local partnerships, and the use of hyperlocal media to build community and support new programmers.

A selection of case studies that demonstrate different ways in which an organisation can work with local partners, or their wider team, to co-create their programme and the new opportunities for developing audiences that co-creation offers.

One of the most important aspects of an independent cinema is its programme, but what happens when the decision-making process is opened up beyond the programming team? This session brings together two case studies of organisations that have developed new methods of co-production to enhance their programme and expand their audience reach. We will hear from Electric Palace Hastings and the team at Afri-Co-Lab, who successfully partnered to deliver a new strand at the venue, opening up fresh creative perspectives and audience connections. We will also hear from Rio Cinema in London, who have introduced a programme inviting all cinema staff, not just programmers, to feed into decision-making, and how this has led to more varied audiences coming through the door.