2022 Funding Round upA quick look at the projects we have funded this year


Over 35 organisations across the North have been supported by National Lottery funding this year
Our aim this year at Film Hub North has been to support the sector as it re-connects with audiences, fund work over a longer term, make space for flexibility and support change. We have seen organisations retain and grow their commitment to independent titles; and projects on hold due to the pandemic have been able to deliver, reaching encouraging audience numbers. A list of all 2022 awardees from our Film Exhibition, Strategic and Screen Heritage CURIOUS Engagement funds can be found below.
The Film Exhibition Fund - Pitch Pot
We launched a new flexible Film Exhibition Fund (FEF) Pitch Pot that is designed to support organisations to deliver one-off events and short screening programmes up to a maximum of £3,000. The projects we supported this year are:
- Keswick Alhambra Cinema’s Young Programmers Independent Film Season (April - June) and their Young Programmers scheme.
- Pavilion’s ‘Towards an Artists’ Cinema project in partnership with Hyde Park Picture House. in Leeds.
- Scalarama Leeds’ Uprising: A Programmer & Development Opportunity as part of their 2022 film festival.
- Rianne Pictures’ Women X Film Festival 2022 in Darlington
- xviix’s film programme xviix:see which took place at Morecambe Library
- Wild Rumpus’s annual weekend-long Just So Festival which took place at Rode Hall, Cheshire this August
- This year’s edition of Holmfirth Film Festival
- Sheba Film Night by the Greater Manchester based organisation Sheba Arts
- Sine Screen’s programme of Chinese diaspora stories called Whose Homeland? Which was presented at FACT in Liverpool
- Zeffirellis’ Inward Eye Film Festival 2022
- Hull Independent Cinema’s Nov 2022 - Feb 2023 film programme
- The Commune: Pop-up Cinema by Odd Child Production Company
- Live Cinema UK’s live score events at Dewsbury Town Hall in Feb 2023 in partnership with Kirklees Year of Music event
Learn more about the FEF - Pitch Pot
The Film Exhibition Fund
Launched in August 2020, the Film Exhibition Fund supports organisations with grants of up to £10,000 as they restart in-person screenings of British, international and independent cinema and continue to deliver online activity. National collaboration for this fund has supported joint approaches and projects that meet audience appetite across the regions covered by the BFI Film Audience Network (BFI FAN). The projects we supported via the Film Exhibition fund this year are:
- The development of the Playhouse Studio’s film offerings at Alnwick Playhouse
- Aunty Social CIC’s Winter Gardens Film Festival in 2023
- Bolton International Film Festival’s 2022 edition
- The audience development and film programme plans of CAPA College’s new cinema space Yorkshire Picture House
- Hebden Bridge Film Festival’s 2023 edition
- Leeds Palestinian Film Festival’s 2022 edition
- Manchester Animation Festival’s ‘MAF Presents’ 2022 programme
- North East International Film Festival’s 2022 edition
- The 15th edition of Sensoria’s film and music festival
- The 2023 edition of Hinterlands by Wild Rumpus
- Yorkshire Silent Film Festival’s 2022 edition
Learn more about the Film Exhibition Fund

The Strategic Fund
The Strategic Fund provides exhibitors with long-term, strategic support to help rebuild and grow their audiences through grants of up to £30,000. The organisations we have supported through this fund are:
- ARC Stockton
- Beacon Films CIC
- Brewery Arts Centre
- Cine North
- FACT
- Forum Cinema Hexham
- Hyde Park Picture House
- Leigh Film Society
- National Media and Science Museum
- Showroom Cinema
- Storyhouse
- The Dukes Lancaster
- Yorkshire Film Archive
Learn more about the Strategic Fund
Changing Times: CURIOUS Engagement Fund
On behalf of the BFI Film Audience Network, we lead on the UK-wide BFI FAN Screen Heritage initiatives including CURIOUS - a programme supporting archive film events which celebrate the human desire to learn more about the people and things around us. This year, 15 projects were supported and were another chance for us all to dive into the UK National & Regional Film Archives.
Also, the archive-based short film Lost Connections commissioned by us on behalf of the BFI Film Audience Network won a FOCAL International award this June for Best Use of Footage in a Short Film Production. Produced by Yorkshire Film Archive, Lost Connections is still available to book for free for both online and in-venue screenings via our website, accompanied by an exhibitor guide and marketing assets.
Find out more about the projects supported by CURIOUS
Looking ahead to 2023 we will continue to support our FHN Members through grants, professional development, and fostering networks across the region in alignment with the BFI’s Screen Culture 2033 strategy.
Image credits: Yorkshire Silent Film Festival's Echoes of the North event (Timm Cleasby); The Dukes Lancaster (Gabi Dawkins).