BFI Film Exhibition Fund Award Winners Announced

Film Hub Scotland announces the recipients of the BFI FAN Film Exhibition Fund, with funding from the National Lottery via the BFI, and Screen Scotland.

31 Film Hub Scotland members have successfully applied for funding to support cultural cinema activity as cinemas reopen across the country, from Shetland to Argyll to Hawick. £220,000 of funding has been awarded, to support organisations to programme a wide range of British and Independent film, engage broad and diverse audiences, and embed inclusivity and sustainability into their work.

The BFI FAN Film Exhibition Fund is part of a package of support from the BFI awarding National Lottery funding, and funding from the UK Government to enable many independent cinemas to survive this year’s COVID-19 shutdown. Alongside Screen Scotland’s Independent Cinema Recovery Fund, this funding will support the exhibition sector in Scotland to keep delivering dynamic and inclusive cultural programming.

The recipients of the fund include Alchemy Film & Arts, who received funding to support Borders Movie Month, a month-long film festival in Hawick developed in collaboration with a network of local exhibitors and filmmakers. The programme will include gems of Scottish cinema, work by local youth groups and an exhibition by moving image curator Natasha Ruwona, focused on Black Scottish history, afro-futurism and spatial geographies. DCA Dundee are also in receipt of support to continue their cultural programming offer. DCA Head of Cinema Alice Black said,

“DCA is grateful to have been awarded funding from the BFI FAN Film Exhibition Fund, which will allow us to continue to programme challenging and engaging cinema for our Dundee audiences.  At this difficult time with so much uncertainty, we are more aware than ever of the transformative power of the cinema experience to connect and inspire us.”

Shetland Arts, based at Mareel Arts Centre, have also received support to restart their Screen Horizons programme; an integral part of Mareel’s film offer for a number of years, bringing independent, arthouse and foreign language cinema, from the UK as well as the wider world, to Shetland audiences. Film Programme Manager Jenny Leask said,

“In these troubled times, we feel it’s more important than ever to provide our community with a programme of cinema that will entertain and enlighten, take audiences out of the here and now and broaden horizons. The support we’ve received from the BFI FAN Film Exhibition Fund will allow us to show a wider selection of films than we otherwise might, and to reach more people in our community.”

Ben Luxford, Head of UK Audiences at the BFI, said:

“This year has shown the absolute importance and need of programming beyond the mainstream. We’re pleased to be able to support exhibitors in Scotland continue to do that through this vital National Lottery funding.”

Sambrooke Scott, Head of Audience Development at Screen Scotland, said,

“Cinemas remain a vital cultural force; a place where audiences can safely lose themselves in great films on the big screen. Thanks to the imagination and passion of Scottish exhibitors, supported by FEF, these projects will engage audiences, providing much needed escapism, engagement and connection. Alongside the Independent Cinema Recovery and Resilience Fund this support will help exhibitors through these challenging times and ensure the cinema experience remains accessible to communities across Scotland.”

Glasgow Film Theatre is the Hub Lead Organisation for Film Hub Scotland, and has worked with Hub members throughout lockdown to offer guidance and support. Glasgow Film CEO Allison Gardner said,

“We are delighted in these difficult times that Film Hub Scotland members have benefited from the BFI FAN Film Exhibition Fund. This fund is supporting a breadth of Scottish venues and film festivals to re-engage with their audiences and we at GFT and Glasgow Film Festival look forward to working with some of them and their exciting projects in the near future.”

The full list of recipients is as follows:

Africa in Motion (£9,800)
Alchemy Film and Arts / Borders Screen Network (£8,800)
An Lanntair, Stornoway (£7,680)
Birks Cinema, Aberfeldy (£5,069)
Caledonian Cinema (£6,000)
Campbeltown Picturehouse (£8,430)
Cample Line (£2,588)
CatStrand (£6,238)
CinemaAttic (£8,750)
Centre for the Moving Image (£6,796)
Cromarty and Resolis Film Society (£5,248)
Dardishi (£6,460)
DCA (£6,396)
Driftwood Cinema, Borders (£6,315)
Dunoon Burgh Hall (£3,350)
Eastgate Theatre (£7,500)
Eden Court (£9,254)
Femspectives (£7,590)
Glasgow Film Festival (£7,000)
Hippodrome Bo’ness (£10,000)
Macrobert, Stirling (£10,000)
Oban Phoenix (£8,900)
Robert Burns Centre Film and Theatre (£10,000)
Screen Argyll (£9,750)
Shetland Arts Development Agency (£9,900)
South West Media Factory (£5,500)
Strathearn Arts (£5,130)
The Barn (£8,270)
The Pickaquoy Centre (£5,221)
West Coast Cinemas (£9,140)