Film Exhibition Fund Recipients Announced

We’re delighted to share the organisations that we have supported in this round of the BFI FAN Film Exhibition Fund.

The Film Exhibition Fund ensures that audiences across Scotland can access and enjoy a diverse range of films, regardless of geography or circumstance, as part of BFI’s Screen Culture 2033 strategy. The fund supports Film Hub Scotland members bringing the best independent film and broader screen experiences to their local communities, made possible thanks to BFI National Lottery and Screen Scotland funding.

The first round of the 2024/25 Film Exhibition Fund closed to applications on 8^th April. The final round of the Film Exhibition for 2024/25 will be on 6^th August. Members can apply for up to £10,000 to support audience-facing activity before either of these dates. Click here to learn more about the Film Exhibition Fund and how to apply.

We are proud to support the following projects:

Aya Films – women hold up half the sky – 妇女能顶半边天

Aya Films in partnership with MINT Chinese Film Festival will create space for audiences across Scotland to engage with Chinese cinema by and about women, showing films and events that excite curious minds and inspire imagination.

From 1 September – 30 October, the programme will include feature films, shorts, live music accompaniments, discussions and introductions. Venues can select all films in the programme, or choose to show specific titles/events.

Beetroots Collective – Borscht Film Club

Beetroots Collective aim to promote Eastern European culture, and introduce culturally significant Polish Films, to audiences in Scotland. After the success of their Borscht Film Club pilot screening, Beetroots Collective will deliver the Film Club to audiences in Glasgow and Edinburgh every month.

They will show Polish films with English subtitles, and each screening will be accompanied by a Q&A session with the creators of the film. All pre-selected films will be contemporary, culturally significant Polish films that have won prizes and critical recognition. They will engage audiences in the programming process by asking those at the first screening to vote on/suggest future titles for the Film Club.

CinemaAttic – 2024/25 season

CinemaAttic‘s 2024-25 season will focus on Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American cinema, an area they have contributed to developing over the past fifteen years across Scotland. Their screenings, held in diverse venues in Edinburgh and Glasgow, will aim to spark dialogue on social issues such as gender-based violence, toxic masculinities, and language revitalisation.

Their programme will leverage the power of film to foster empathy and inspire change, including a short film programme that will celebrate innovative and experimental approaches to film, from Colombian cinema to the spirit of Mekas. In addition, the season’s strands will also highlight Brazil’s cinematic diversity, Earth’s volcanoes and botanics and oral narratives in minoritised languages.

Cinetopia – Cinetopia:DOC 24/25 Season

Cinetopia:DOC is a film programme strand in Edinburgh entirely dedicated to the creative documentary genre. They have been running monthly screenings since relaunching in November 2023 at the Cameo Cinema.

Their 24/25 season will address timely and urgent topics, including the state of world democracy and global politics. This programme will coincide with two upcoming national elections in the US and UK, offering audiences the space to reflect on global politics and witness citizens around the world engaging with politics.

Cinetopia:DOC 2024/25 aims to expand beyond Edinburgh to bring screenings to Glasgow and Dundee. The next screening, on Sunday 26 May, will be March on Rome (2023, dir. Mark Cousins), which had its UK premiere at Glasgow Film Festival 2023.

Cumbernauld Community Cinema – 2024/25 Screening Programme

Cumbernauld Community Cinema (CCC) plan to expand their regular screening programme in 2024/25, which provides films at a low cost in community venues across Cumbernauld. The programme will continue to address a number of the barriers to cinema attendance in Cumbernauld – such as cost, location, transport, screening environment and film selection – by working in partnership with local community groups to provide transport, food and pre/post-film discussions.

The film programme for each group will be based on conversations with each community group, guided and supported by CCC. Relevant and appropriate enhancement activities, such as music, talks, workshops, will be developed with these groups.

Dunoon Burgh Hall Trust – Dunoon Film Festival 2024

Dunoon Film Festival 2024 will return with screenings, careers talks, masterclasses, Q&A’s for those in the Dunoon area, and beyond. In partnership with Screen Argyll, the programme will start with a day focussed on young audiences and filmmakers, and will also include family programme of screenings and workshops. With a new artistic team programming the festival there will be a renewed focus on screen previews and new releases, while celebrating screen heritage with a screening featuring live accompaniment.

The Festival will take place in November and will welcome audiences from across the Cowal peninsula and beyond.

Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival 2024

The Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival (ESFF) 2024 will present a programme of Spanish and Latin American films alongside Q&As, panel discussions, workshops and roundtables. Aside from promoting Spanish language, regions and Hispanic countries, the programme will also include films representative of the language and societies in the Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia, as well as those of varying indigenous communities from Latin America.

ESFF pride themselves on providing a fair representation for female directors in their programme; last year 45% of the festival’s films were directed by women. The Festival will take place at various venues in Edinburgh and in Glasgow, Stirling and Inverness.

French Film Festival UK – Extras: Expanded offer to Scottish community venues

French Film Festival UK will make a selection of foreign language films available to smaller venues, schools, community clubs and film societies across Scotland through their Extras programme. Films will be from Francophone countries such as Belgium, Quebec, Switzerland, French-speaking African countries, and France. Titles will include: Age of Panic by last year’s Palme d’Or winner Justine Triet, Junkyard Dog by Jean-Baptiste Durand and The Worst Ones by Lisa Akoka, Romane Gueret.

Where possible, screenings will be accompanied by introductions and/or discussions around the subjects raised in the films.

Manipulate Arts – Animated Film Programme

Manipulate Arts bring the very best of international and Scottish animated film, puppetry and visual theatre to audiences across Scotland through their Festival and programmes.

Building on the success of their 2024 expanded programme, Manipulate Arts will bring an exciting and varied Animated Film Programme to venues across Edinburgh, North Lanarkshire and the Outer Hebrides. The programme will consist of 4 shorts programmes (5-12 titles each) and 3 feature films. The feature films will include an influential feature from the animation canon, and two contemporary films.

Montrose LandxSea Festival 2024

Launched in 2023, LandxSea provides a platform for environmental films and discussions. The second iteration of the festival, taking place in September, will feature climate-focused films, speakers, engaging dialogues, family activities, workshops, and community events. Set in the Montrose Playhouse, it serves audiences across Angus, from Dundee to Aberdeen, against the backdrop of the region’s natural landscapes and projects like the Sea Green Offshore Wind Farm.

Their programming emphasises the complex connections between land and sea, presenting diverse global environmental stories such as wildlife conservation, circular economy, and energy transition. The festival highlights underrepresented voices and stories, offering a platform for critical environmental discussions.

Samizdat Eastern European Film Festival 2024

Now in its third year, Samizdat Eastern European Film Festival 2024 (1 – 5 October) will continue to screen cinema from Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus that represent talented and subversive voices, exhibiting some of the most exciting films of the region.

This year, they will complement their usual programme of features, documentaries and a Ukrainian strand with two special events. Events will take place at: the Centre for Contemporary Arts; Glasgow Film Theatre; other venues across Scotland, and online. A full programme of events will be announced in late August/early September.

Scottish Queer International Film Festival (SQIFF) 2024

Scottish Queer International Film Festival (SQIFF) returns in 2024 for the ninth edition of its annual festival dedicated to LGBTQIA+ cinema. SQIFF 2024 will present several days of film screenings, workshops, panel discussions, and filmmaker Q&As at Centre of Contemporary Arts and Glasgow Film Theatre. They will invite two guest curators to curate special programmes, and will screen a set of short films created by members of SQIFF’s Queer Filmmakers Group, a year-round networking group for queer Scottish filmmakers.

FHS funding will support accessibility measures at SQIFF 2024 for deaf and disabled audiences.

Skye Community Cinema – Only Independent Films on Skye 2024

Every month, Skye Community Cinema presents their Only Independent Films on Skye programme, bringing specialised films to audiences on the Isle of Skye.

Each screening of foreign language, documentaries or British films are accompanied by a special guest relevant to the film. This month’s screening, new documentary MUCH ADO ABOUT DYING, was accompanied by a Q&A with special guests in honour of Demystifying Death Week.

For their 2024 season, they will continue to engage with young audiences by screening short films by local up and coming filmmakers ahead of feature films.

Take One Action Film Festivals – Action! Film Clubs

Take One Action will support community film clubs across Scotland to host film screenings in their local areas through their Action! Film Clubs. The film clubs aim to broaden audiences’ horizons and allow them to develop personal and meaningful relations with film while finding their role in social and environmental justice movements.

Action! Film Clubs will provide access to impactful films from across the world and invite audiences to tackle key issues of climate & social justice, whilst supporting groups to hold their own film events and conversations. This decentralised programming approach will allow communities to find ways to respond to inequality, injustice and the climate crisis by using inspiring film and conversation as a springboard for action.

The programme of international and local cinema – spanning topics of food sovereignty, climate racism, land rights, and economic justice – will provide local groups with access to stories of change that are powerful, informative and inspiring.

Transgressive North – Folk Film Festival 2024

Curated by Transgressive North, the Folk Film Gathering is the world’s first folk film festival, screening films that celebrate the lived experiences of communities worldwide. Each annual edition explores the relationships between cinema and other traditional arts (such as oral storytelling and folk song), exploring what folk cinema has been at moments throughout world history, and how it may look in the future.

The 2024 Folk Film Gathering – the 10th edition since the Gathering was founded in 2015 – will celebrate connections old and new between communities in Scotland and around the world. Screenings and events will be online and in person at Cameo Picturehouse, and the Scottish Storytelling Centre.

 

Image credit: Ingrid Muir, Glasgow Short Film Festival 2024