End of Year Report2019/20

Image © Ingrid Mur

End of Year Report 2019/20

Introduction

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When we started compiling this End of Year report for Film Hub Scotland, the exhibition landscape looked very different, with innovative projects and touring programmes planned for Scottish venues through into 2021.

As the scale of the COVID-19 crisis became apparent and cinemas across the world closed their doors, we adapted our work accordingly - offering members support, funding for onlineactivity, and coordinating the BFI FAN ResilienceFund in Scotland. The BFI FAN and the widercinema industry have mobilised to adapt andfind solutions to this crisis in myriad inspiringways, and we will continue to work with ourpartners at the BFI, Screen Scotland andRegional Screen Scotland to offer support andguidance to our membership.

Before this point, however, we had already seen almost a full year of activity, and this report sets out some of the incredible work that the FHS team and our membership have produced. From young audiences and new programming voices to accessibility and archive, we’re immensely proud of the work that has been done to innovate and experiment, to challenge and collaborate, and bring more films to more people across Scotland.

There have been changes within the Film Hub team too. After seven years of heading up the Hub, Sambrooke Scott moved on to a new role with Screen Scotland. We are delighted to welcome Nicola Kettlewood into the Manager role.

Similarly, Member Support and Development Coordinator Adam Castle moved on to a new role and to focus on his filmmaking practice, with Adam Wright joining us in the role in April.

With thanks to our funders Screen Scotland and the BFI, distributing National Lottery Funding, and our partners and colleagues from across FAN and the wider exhibition sector.

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Further thanks go to our Film Hub Lead Organisation, Glasgow Film. We continue to work closely with our colleagues there to provide mutual opportunities and support, and look forward to the cinema's reopening later this year.

Headline Figures

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Aged 16-30

223 Members

Total Audience

56,168TOTAL

FUNDING£239,568

22% 7% 16% 8%

BAME LGBTQ+ Disabled audiences

34Bursaries

COST PER HEAD £4.26

Image © Ingrid Mur

Regular FundingAMPLIFYWe work with 7 venues across Scotland as part of our Amplify programme:

► An Lanntair (Stornoway) ► Birks Cinema (Aberfeldy) ► Campbeltown Picturehouse (Campbeltown)

► Hippodrome (Bo’ness)

► Macrobert Arts Centre (Stirling) ► Oban Phoenix (Oban) ► Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre

(Dumfries and Galloway) The Amplify programme focuses on building internal team working, business skills and strengthening a network of mid-scale independent venues across Scotland. Amplify venues take part in regular meetings and opportunities for training and staff development, with priorities for the group reflecting those of BFI2022; increased access to independent British and world cinema for a wider, more diverse audience, a celebration of the UK’s screen heritage via archive material and a focus on 15-30 year old audience members across all activity and programming.

FABRIC: RURAL TOURING NETWORKS We support three rural networks led by Screen Argyll (Argyll and Bute), Driftwood Cinema (Dumfries and Galloway) and NEAT Flicks (Aberdeenshire). The networks have different models of support to create more a connected exhibition sector serving remote audiences. Last year they welcomed over 6,600 people to screenings and took part in the FAN Major Programmes, Musicals and Film Feels - including Screen Argyll’s very special celebration of Wes Anderson, WesFest, featuring screenings of The Life Aquatic in the Submarine Centre, Helensburgh.

Image © Submarine Centre, Helensburgh

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Open Funding

Was glad to see a film that I would not have seen otherwise - thank you Dardishi!

Our Open Funds are designed to support activity across Scotland, from one-off screenings to expansive programmes and seasons, and for exhibitors at any level; rural film clubs, independent collectives, festivals and full-time venues.

Our Pitch Pot funding supported 26 projects this year, with members delving into repertory programming or opting to enhance screenings with Q&As and musical performances. Seven larger-scale Pilot Projects received funding this year, with members producing ambitious and exciting large-scale programmes that showcase the breadth, creativity and expertise of Scotland’s exhibition sector. Here are some selected projects.

Dardishi Festival is a community-focused, artistically ambitious festival that showcases the cultural production of Arab and North African womxn at CCA Glasgow. Pitch Pot funding supported the expansion of the festival’s cinema programme, with new collections of short film focused on queer womxn filmmakers and refugee womxn on the theme of ‘home’.

IberoDocs is Scotland’s festival for Ibero-American culture, focused on documentary films by Spanish, Portuguese and Latin-American filmmakers. Pilot Project funding enabled the creation of a new programming strand: Diving Into the Archives; exploring the transformation of the surroundings, cities and rural space in Hispanic-Andalusian society, including a selection of short films from the Andalusian Film Archive, films by Luis Buñuel and adaptations of the works of writer Miguel Delibes.

The Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre (RBCFT) in Dumfries celebrated Black History Month with a series of screenings working with the REMiND Network – a group promoting dialogue and community-based research on migrant and refugee/asylum seeker issues – to screen a session of of five films, including Horace Ove’s Pressure (1975), Belle (Amma Asante, 2013) and Shola Amoo’s The Last Tree (2019). Guest speakers and post-screening discussions aimed to foster discourse around race and community, with Pitch Pot funding helping to subsidise ticket costs for BME audiences who might face barriers to attending the cinema.

Image © Billy Malcolm

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Supporting Our Membership

Image © Ingrid Mur

34 applicants to our Bursary scheme this year travelled to film events and training across the world (and a little closer to home) alongside ICO Screening Days, training courses and film festivals across Europe.

The scheme encourages members to undertake activity that will enhance their professional development, benefit their organisation and the wider Film Hub Scotland network.

This year, Emma Mortimore of Edinburgh-based MultiStory Docs visited IceDocs, a new documentary festival in Iceland, Africa in Motion Programme Coordinator Myriam Mouflih received bursary support to Zanzibar International Film Festival, and we supported several members to take part in SeaChange on Tiree - a residential professional development course for women working in film. The Film Hub team were also supported to undertake training opportunities - Knowledge and Network Coordinator Georgia took part in the CICAE Art Cinema = Action + Management course in Venice and Programme and Marketing Coordinator Charlotte attended the 2019 London Film Festival.

Exhibitor DaysWe continue to build on feedback from members to improve our Exhibitors Days at the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) and Glasgow Film Festival (GFF). One of the main focuses for members at our events is to network, share ideas and hear about other projects in Scotland so we have introduced ‘Show and Share’, where members can present triumphs, challenges and ideas in mini-presentations lasting under 5 minutes. Contributors included Aberfeldy’s Heartland Film Society, Matchbox CineClub, and Tullynessle Film Club. We heard case studies from Leith Late and CinemaAttic on the power of engaging local communities through sharing food and powerful films at their Pintxos: Basque Film and Food Crawl at EIFF. At GFF, Shona Thomson and Emily Munro talked through our successful archive film tour, Her Century, and The Poverty Alliance gave a presentation on barriers to access for those living in poverty in Scotland. We had a focus on promoting and supporting Scottish film; Park Circus presented their upcoming slate, Screen Scotland shared the latest filmmaking talent being nurtured in the industry, and indie exhibitors Cosmic Cat and Off the Hook Distribution talked about new releases from Scottish filmmakers.

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Supporting Scottish FilmOne of our aims as the FAN Hub for Scotland is to support the country’s rich cinematic heritage, from archive and beloved classics to new releases and festival firsts.

We work with distributors, producers, festivals and emerging filmmakers to champion work that tells Scottish stories – and where better to show them than on Scottish screens?Through our partnerships with Screen Scotland, SDI, Glasgow Film, the National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive, HippFest and Scottish distributors including Park Circus, Cosmic Cat, All the Anime and Filmhouse (alongside independent and self-distributors) we’ve supported releases and tours of dozens of Scottish titles via our Exhibitor Days at GFF and EIFF, online resources and funding opportunities.

Titles we supported this year include whisky odyssey The Amber Light, festival favourite Of Fish and Foe, the upcoming releases of Our Ladies and Scott Graham’s tale of small towns and open roads, Run. We continue to work closely with our Hub Lead Organisation Glasgow Film and supported the creation of this year’s Glasgow Film Festival on Tour (currently delayed) and Glasgow Short Film Festival’s Shorts in Support programme, with seven venues taking part and screening a selected short before features.

We’re delighted to be supporting Launch! a new project from Screen Argyll and Shona Thomson (A Kind of Seeing) that celebrates a vital piece of Scotland’s heritage; the history and cultural legacy of the RNLI. Initially intended as part of the Scottish Year of Coasts and Waters 2020, the programme will instead tour Scottish venues in 2021.

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Image © Ingrid Mur

End of Year Report 2019/20

Into The ArchivesScotland’s rich film heritage is best explored by bringing archive and repertory films back to the big screen, for new audiences. FAN funding supported the creation of three touring programmes this year: Her Century, SQIFF’s Out of the Archives and HippFest On Tour: Rob Roy.

In Autumn 2019 we partnered with the National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive to produce a new touring programme for Scotland: Her Century. Curator Emily Munro searched the archives to tell the story of Scotland’s women at work and at home over 100 years, from Hebridean wool weaving to calisthenics and rent strikes. Coordinated by Shona Thomson (A Kind of Seeing), the programme screened at over 20 venues across Scotland accompanied by talks, workshops and a newly commissioned zine featuring responses from young Scottish writers.

For LGBT History Month Scotland 2020 we supported SQIFF (Scottish Queer International Film Festival) to produce Out of the Archives! – a programme of short film looking back at largely unseen and undiscovered documents of Scottish queer representation in the 20th century. Films in the programme include Bill Douglas’s graduation film, Come Dancing, and Pratibha Parmar’s Glasgow-based experimental short Bhangra Jig. Touring to 7 venues across Scotland including Ayr Town Hall, MacArts Galashiels and Oban Phoenix, screenings were followed by discussion with local LGBT groups, interrogating the changing forms and formats of queer cinema and the accessibility of archive material featuring marginalised communities.

Hippfest continued to revive Scotland’s silent film legacy with a newly-commissioned tour of W. P. Kellino’s 1922 epic Rob Roy, accompanied by composer David Allison’s live score. The film was shot entirely on location in the Trossachs and nearby Stirling Castle, with a November screening at the castle providing a fittingly atmospheric stop on the tour.

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We want to engage queer people with lived experience from those places, at the time that the films were made

Marc David Jacobs, SQIFF

Unique music and historical film. Magnificent!

Rob Roy Audience Member

Increasing Access In January 2019, FHS and Film Hub Wales collaborated on their Opening Our Doors series: a day of workshops and talks designed to enhance member’s approaches to diversity and access in their organisations.

In this edition, we had speakers including Myriam Mouflih (Africa in Motion) and Helen Wright (SQIFF) talk about how access should and can be widened to include diverse communities including BAME, LGBTQ+, Disabled and working class audience members.

This event served as the first meeting for what became the Access Forum; a quarterly meeting of FHS members to share ideas, projects and challenges about widening access in their organisations. Each Forum has been made up of a facilitated discussion and a workshop so that we can enhance our knowledge and understanding of key topics. We have been joined by Alison Smith (Pesky People/ Creative Scotland) who highlighted the importance of captioning and BSL interpretation so D/deaf and hard of hearing audience members can enjoy films.

Dan Miekle from the RNIB delivered a practical session on welcoming audience members who are blind or partially sighted to venues. Paul Ralph and Antonia Lee-Bapty from Euan’s Guide talked us through their website and what an important resource it is for people who are disabled to plan visits to the cinema.

FHS members have also used money from the Access Fund to support projects at their own organisations. Africa in Motion created a travel bursary for their 2019 edition to support audience members who might otherwise not be able to attend screenings. GSFF and LUX Scotland received funding to have strands in their festivals captioned and to also have BSL interpretation for post-film discussions and introductions.

New Promoters The New Promoter Scheme was launched in 2019 after meeting with Justine Atkinson who had been exploring participatory programming and the benefits of this diversifying film choice and representation on screen. Justine coordinates the New Promoter scheme and we have six organisations taking part across two cohorts: GSFF, GFF and CCA; and SQIFF, Take One Action and the Macrobert.

The scheme aims to increase the number of marginalised people working for cinemas, festivals and venues within Scotland, offering six-month placements paid at the Living Wage. This includes those marginalised due to race, gender, sexuality, age, class, and disability and comes from a recognition that these identities are not adequately represented within the Scottish screen industry. We aim to amplify new voices through innovative new film programmes within festivals and venues, with each New Promoter planning and delivering a programming strand and events in their role.

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The combination of audio, visual and BSL use of space and lighting, is my highlight so far

LUX Scotland AMIF attendee

Image © Matthew Jones

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Image © Matthew Jones

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Cross-Fan: Member Support & DevelopmentAs in previous years, we continued to collaborate with our colleagues at Film Hub North and FIlm Hub Midlands to produce This Way Up.

The sold-out two-day film exhibition conference took place on 3-4 December 2019 at Broadway Nottingham, presenting a programme shaped in consultation with a development forum from across the sector. Centered around key themes of Celebration, Resilience and The Future with a focus on interactive formats and practical takeaways, speakers at this year’s event included cultural leader Rabab Ghazoul, journalist and critic Christina Newland, filmmaker Jeanie Finlay, Hoxton Hall CEO Karena Johnson and newly-appointed editor of Sight & Sound, Mike Williams. The event entirely sold out, with a 59% increase on 2018 Early Bird sales and total sales 47% up on previous editions. Generous partnerships with MUBI, Savoy Systems, Comscore, usheru and Adnam’s exceeded the expectation for cash sponsorship. This Way Up 2020 is slated to take place at Watershed Bristol.

ADVICE AND EXPERIENCE SCHEMEIn our capacity as cross-FAN Member Support and Development lead, we delivered over 50 one-to-one advice sessions between FAN members and film industry experts this year. With experts available from across the UK and every area of the sector, from technology to team-building, the A&E scheme will be more important than ever as the industry begins to rebuild after the current crisis. We will be relaunching the scheme as FAN Advice Sessions, with advisors specifically able to offer support on issues raised by COVID-19.

A&E Scheme Participant

It’s often hard to find the time to fit in another commitment but having an external professional to bounce ideas off has been invaluable. It gave me a new enthusiasm for my role, and reminded me of why I love it!

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End of Year Report2019/20