I.D. Inclusion and Diversity Screening Days at Broadway Cinema

24th October 2019 2 Minute Read

FHNI offers bursary support to members to develop their professional networks and skills. Here's a recent report from one recipient.

FHNI were delighted to support Sinéad Bhreathnach-Cashell from Ni Screen's Digital Film Archive Department to attend the Independent Cinema Office’s I.D. Inclusion and Diversity Screening Days at Broadway Cinema in Nottingham in September 2019.

Here’s Sinéad’s report on events:

The workshops and screenings were an excellent opportunity to share approaches to inclusive screenings with a wider UK network and to pick up practical tips from experts to apply to our organisation. The following sessions were particularly useful:

Taking Inclusion Personally workshop by Toki Allison focused on both the personal and organisational changes that need to be made to create inclusive events and workplaces. The workshop also facilitated conversations with other participants, these informal conversations have widened my professional network.

Locality: Outreach & Area Specific Programming. Catford Mews and TAPE shared their approach to community-led programming. Their examples of enhanced screenings tailored to specific local areas resonate with our own approach to screen heritage and it was useful to hear examples of what hadn’t worked alongside successes, especially about striking a balance between the enhanced elements and keeping film at the heart of events.

Neurodiverse Film Talent introduced by Alex Usborne from 104 Films, demonstrated the impact of a disabled-led approach to representing disability on screen. It was brilliant to see examples from neurodiverse film makers and hear about how these films have been toured. I will follow up with 104 Films as part of our own disabled-led archive project in 2020.

Overall the screening days have informed how I think about the importance of on screen representation i.e. what we show as an archive and how we make events more accessible both in how they are delivered and how they are promoted. The speakers shared their expertise in a very pragmatic way making sessions practical and relevant to how we want to develop as an inclusive organisation.

Whilst in Nottingham I met with Film Free and Easy to discuss the possibility of collaborating on a Belfast event next April. As a result of this bursary we are now planning an archive and non-theatrical screening in Havelock House bringing together film makers from Nottingham and Belfast.

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