Insights and innovation from the conference's first edition
Published:
22 May 2025
The first BFI FAN CON took place 11-13 September in Belfast at Queen’s Film Theatre.
FAN members from around the UK gathered to (re)connect and share knowledge across two days of sessions and workshops.
The conference was very much shaped for and by the members, thanks to the 51 proposals submitted to an open call for session ideas, resulting in half the conference being curated by the membership.
If you weren’t able to attend you can now catch up on some of the sessions here, and read this wrap up piece from Manon Euler, Head of Film Hub North, summarising some sessions and talking points from the conference.
Introduction
After a quick catch up with the first guests around coffee, tea, pastries - and a personal dilemma as to what colour of tote bag to pick - we were ushered into the main screen of Queen’s Film Theatre. While acknowledging the many challenges faced by the industry, such as covid-19, reduced public funds, increased running costs and stretched staff, the day nevertheless started with a message of hope for the sector, highlighting the vital work independent film exhibitors do, and highlighting the achievements of the Film Audience Network.
A survey carried out by Indigo showed that FAN’s funded activities brought 4.1M people across 1065 cities, towns and villages to the cinema, and brought a minimum of £21.2M gross value added - a reminder of the economical value of the work we support.
With so many interesting sessions to choose from (Integrating Accessible Cinema Experiences for All Audiences, The Health and Wellbeing Benefits of Attending the Cinema etc.), it was difficult to pick, but knowing most sessions would be recorded (and now available here) made it somewhat easier.
Here’s a round up of some of the sessions I attended. You can also read the piece summarising all sessions available on the Bigger Picture here.
Contemporary Collecting and Future Audiences
On shifting perspective on archives - what it looks like, how it can be used and shown, and how audiences can engage with it
In this session the importance of the contemporary moving image collection, its challenges and benefits were highlighted by Jemma Buckley (BFI Our Screen Heritage) and Elspeth Vischer (Northern Ireland Now).
In line with its ambition to be “the most open moving image collection in the world” (Screen Culture 2033) Jemma explained how the BFI is looking to improve access and engagement with their archives, as well as preserve and acquire new content with a view to diversify the collections.
Vlogs, music videos, PBS, ads, citizen journalism and short films are a treasure trove online. But the value of the every day record is not always seen, and is complicated by the quantity of content available and its disposability.
To avoid a lack of record 30 years from now, Our Screen Heritage is looking into how to collect and preserve, what digital infrastructures are needed for this, and questions of IP and copyrights.
The potential of this project also lies in its desire to update the archives to better highlight and evidence the value and relevance of archival content to younger generations. BFI Assistant Curator Kitty Robertson’s video essay was the perfect illustration of contemporary collecting as a live, contemporary and active practice.
Northern Ireland Now is working with 12 community partners on creating a new collection of 120 videos. This follows an interrogation of what content was missing from Northern Irish collections and how to address under-representation in the archives.
Through workshops, these community groups are brought together to learn practical skills on content gathering, cataloguing, and the formats and language of archives. The groups then make their own films to be preserved in the BFI archives as its own collection.
There is an appetite from audiences and communities to see themselves, their places, history and experiences on screen, and this work is empowering them with the tools to make this practice their own. Elspeth highlighted the potential this kind of work represents for exhibitors - giving them an opportunity to connect with the communities around them by showing this kind of work on screen.
Revisiting Your Cinema Business Model
On financial resilience, accounts management, data-driven decision making, and fundraising
The first edition of the BFI FAN’s Revisiting Your Cinema Business Model course took place across six months in 2024, with recruitment for the second edition opening soon. The course, led by former CEO of Broadway (Nottingham) Steve Mapp and the Independent Cinema Office’s Head of Cinemas David Sin, focused on helping cinemas build financial resilience in these challenging times.
The session looked at the key takeaways from the course. Steve stressed the need for clear, proper financial management on one hand, with also the ability to take risks and maintain a “let’s do it” attitude across the team.
It was acknowledged that the sector needs future and current leaders to access more training and development opportunities, with recent senior leadership roles having been recruited outside of the sector. In a difficult landscape of changing viewing patterns, covid’s long term impact on audience numbers, and increased costs across the board, our sector needs to be better equipped to plan and adapt, to operate in a more resilient and sustainable way.
After a refresher on the “lingua franca” of finance - think management account, cash flow and annual report, asset and liability, and the importance of reserves - a sticky point with many venues struggling to rebuild those - Steve highlighted the importance of making finance part of your teams’ conversations to encourage a culture of transparency. Good financial management goes hand-in-hand with a successful programme and marketing.
This led to a conversation on data being paramount to shaping business and financial decisions. Good use of data can influence programming choices (slots, schedule, content), improve customer experience (offers, incentives), and help the organisation have an informed and consistent approach to what they do, why they do it, and how they do it.
Data analysis can feel daunting, and for many venues its collection is limited by resource, time, and staffing. Still, in the mid and long term data analysis is a powerful tool to increase capacity, knowledge, revenue, and streamline decisions for your organisation.
Saving Our Cinema, Securing Our Future
On challenges faced and lessons learnt by venues across the UK that have embarked on ambitious renovation programmes
This session focused on three independent cinemas and their redevelopment journeys: Mimi Turtle, CEO of the Strand Arts Centre in Belfast; Claire Vaughan, Cinema Programme Manager at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff; and Wendy Cook, Head of Cinema at Hyde Park Picture House in Leeds.
Mimi emphasised the key ingredients for a capital investment programme:
Need (to make a clear case for it)
Support (from the community but also from relevant sectors: heritage, environmental, economic etc.)
A strategic plan and a business case, as well as a feasibility study to back it up
People with the right expertise
Thorough costing and fundraising plans from the very early development stage
Fundraising
Clear construction and design plans
A new operational model to support the renovation both during and after.
Another key learning was how long this kind of project can take to get off the ground. Both Wendy and Mimi recognised that the original timelines they had in mind were optimistic, and that venues need to prepare for a long, complex but ultimately rewarding journey.
As an example, the economic appraisal and concept drawings for Strand Arts were developed in-house in October 2016. After various rounds of fundraising, political lobbying, a public campaign, the appointment of a design team, planning and costing, a pandemic, more fundraising, and the appointment of a contractor in 2024, the building is now closed for repair and expected to complete in March 2026.
Pre-renovation, Hyde Park Picture House was a building in an increasing state of disrepair where need consistently exceeded capacity - the programme expanded, partnerships were built, and the audience grew from 32k to over 55k between 2004 and 2014. The financial model relying almost solely on sales income was no longer working, with costs growing faster than income.
Following a similar but slightly shorter timeline than the Strand Arts, HPPH reopened in June 2023, after two years of off-site programme across Leeds and West Yorkshire. The last 12 months have been focused on rebuilding audience in-line with the organisation’s development goals; re-establishing industry connections, as well as forming new ones; ensuring HPPH becomes a key venue for filmmakers, previous tours and other programmes across the North; being a sector leader on good practice and what success looks like for a small historic venue; and to serve the communities of individuals and organisations around HPPH.
While cost escalation, changes to the release landscape, figuring out a “new” building, and balancing capacity vs ambition are certainly challenging, renovations are opportunities for venues to re-think their model and structure, implement better working practices, and reconsider what the venue stands for, curation and audience engagement-wise.
