Our Northern Exposure Young Programmer takes on her next challenge
Published:
18 Oct 2024
We catch up with Jasmine Broome, a graduate of our Northern Exposure Young Programmers scheme, as she ventures on in her film programming career.
Since joining Film Hub North as one of their 2023/24 Northern Exposure Young Programmers, they have offered me numerous networking opportunities and a mix of online/in-person film events. Most recently, after completing the last leg of the Northern Exposure short film tour Film Hub North arranged for me to take on a programming placement with one of their partner film festivals. This opportunity would allow me to gain more experience not only in programming, but to expand my skills across new areas and learn what goes into putting together a whole weekend film event. As I’d really enjoyed attending the 2023 edition of Women X Film Festival, and am passionate about their cause to champion women in film, we felt Rianne Pictures would be a perfect team for me to learn from.
The placement was split into three segments: Programme Building, Programme Enhancement, and the Festival Weekend. I was assigned two strands of my own to program and began by reviewing and rating the submissions that had already made it through the initial selection process. After shortlisting, I then decided on a theme, title, description and running order for both strands. This familiar process, which had been largely collaborative during my work on the Northern Exposure tour, was now a more independent challenge. I was given the freedom and space to shape the strands in a direction that reflected my personal style, whilst still making sure it matched the tone of the wider festival.
During the second stage of the placement I helped out with extra marketing tasks and attended weekly meetings where the team brainstormed ideas. In preparation for the festival weekend the last few meetings covered what to expect, familiarising ourselves with the rota, and learning the roles and responsibilities for each department. I was assigned a role in the screening team for the weekend which entailed greeting and ushering audiences, counting attendance, and manning the voting system, as well as ensuring that the screenings ran seamlessly.
The three days of the festival weekend flew by and I felt that I accomplished so much. Alongside my screening team duties, I also spent time on the front of house welcome desk and even hosted the comedy filmmaker roundtable on my own. Leading this discussion was so insightful as the audience and I got to hear about personal work experiences from professional filmmakers, and receive their advice on how to emerge into the industry.
My highlights of the festival were watching the strands I’d programmed play on the big screen in front of audiences, as well as getting to meet some very talented, inspiring women - both across the Rianne Pictures team and among the filmmakers and attendees.
This placement has been incredibly rewarding and I’m very happy to say it has led to the team at Rianne Pictures inviting me to continue working with them on future editions of the festival. I can’t wait to see where this takes me and I couldn’t have done it without Film Hub North’s support and their trust in me as one of their very first Young Programmers. Thank you to everyone at Rianne Pictures, Film Hub North and the BFI Film Academy for granting me such an exciting opportunity at such an early stage of my career in the film industry!
Film Hub North: Young People
BFI Film Academy offers opportunities for 16-25 year olds, anywhere in the UK, to get to know more about film and how to forge a career in the screen industries. Sign up to our newsletter to learn more about our activities for young people in the region.
