The venues will work together to promote films screenings at all eleven sites, giving rural audiences the best chance to find out what’s happening in their town or village.
Coordinated by the Memo Arts Centre in Barry, the largest independent cinema in the Vale of Glamorgan, the project will launch with a series of special ice-breakers film screenings across the cinema network in early 2019.
Vale Venues and the Memo will present a brand-new film festival that celebrates film under the theme ‘Discovery’, which will include screenings and film events. Spanning from the Summer to Christmas 2019, the new film festival will be the first of its kind in the county.
Hana Lewis, strategic manager at Film Hub Wales explains:
“Cinema is vibrant in the Vale, with a variety of experienced organisations offering imaginative film activities for local audiences. There is huge potential to harness this within a film festival that brings isolated audiences together to celebrate their communities and find out what’s happening in their area year-round.”
Kate Long, General Manager at the Memo Arts Centre adds:
“We are excited to be working collectively with our partner cinemas to develop our partnerships, and are looking forward to presenting a film festival featuring a wide range of films for audiences across the Vale. We see the partnership as a great opportunity to encouraging cinema audiences to visit all our cinemas to see what we have on offer. We want to bring the best of films to the Vale, including cinema classics, British independents, shorts, animations, documentaries, international film, and even some homegrown Welsh content. The Vale Venue CineFest19 will showcase cinema in adventurous places, create more family friendly events, engage with schools and provide more opportunities for inter-generational, dementia friendly and relaxed film events.”
Venues involved in the project also include Barn At West Farm, Colwinston Community Cinema, Cowbridge Big Screen, Dinas Powys Community Cinema, Llancarfan Community Cinema. Memo Arts Centre, Peterston Village Hall, Snowcat Cinema at Penarth Pier Pavilion, St Donats Arts Centre, Sully Community Cinema and Ystradowen Community & Sports Association.
Nicola Summer Smith, Creative Rural Communities:
“We identified the social value of community cinemas for the Vale and helped support them in their early days. It’s been great to see how these cinemas have developed to serve their own communities, and how new cinemas are still being formed. This scheme will mean that they can now come together to share skills, knowledge and promotion and to have a place where they can continue to learn from each other.”
For more information about Vale Venues screenings and venues head over to their Facebook page or check the Barry Memo page.
The film programme brought to you, is supported by the BFI, with National Lottery Funding as part of the BFI Film Audience Network (FAN), creating opportunities for audiences to see and enjoy a broader range of films.
For more information and images, please contact jennifer@filmhubwales.org or Gemma Jones gemmajones@barrymemo.co.uk.
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
ABOUT FILM HUB WALES:
Film Hub Wales aims to bring more films, to more people, in more places around Wales. Along with its independent member venues, FHW regularly develops inventive ways for people in Wales to go to the cinema.
Film Hub Wales (FHW) is one of eight UK wide ‘hubs’ funded by the BFI (British Film Institute) to form the Film Audience Network (FAN), with Chapter appointed as the Film Hub Lead Organisation (FHLO) in Wales. We aim to develop the exhibition sector through dedicated research, training and audience development project support. Since Film Hub Wales set up in 2013, we’ve supported over 160 exciting cinema projects, reaching over 302,500 audience members.
In partnership with our member cinemas, arts centres, community venues, societies, festivals and wider film practitioners, FHW aims to celebrate and support the vibrant cultural film sector here in Wales, working together to expand and increase choice for audiences, regardless of where they live.
filmhubwales.org
twitter.com/FilmHubWales
facebook.com/filmhubwales
ABOUT THE BFI:
The BFI is the lead body for film in the UK with the ambition to create a flourishing film environment in which innovation, opportunity and creativity can thrive by:
The BFI is a Government arm’s-length body and distributor of Lottery funds for film. The BFI serves a public role which covers the cultural, creative and economic aspects of film in the UK. It delivers this role:
Founded in 1933, the BFI is a registered charity governed by Royal Charter.
The BFI Board of Governors is chaired by Josh Berger CBE.
ABOUT THE BFI FILM AUDIENCE NETWORK:
Film Hub Wales is a lead film hub partner in the BFI Film Audience Network.
The BFI Film Audience Network (FAN) is a ground-breaking initiative that gives audiences across the UK the opportunity to see a broader range of films in a cinema setting. For filmmakers, getting films onto cinema screens is a highly competitive business, particularly for specialised films which includes archive, documentary, independent and foreign language films.
With £12 million of Lottery funding over four years (2018-22) the BFI FAN works with cinema exhibitors, film festivals, educators, film societies, community venues, film archives and other organisations in their regions or nations to boost audiences for film across the UK.
The film hub partners which drive audience engagement across the UK comprise: Broadway Cinema, Nottingham with Flatpack, Birmingham; Chapter, Cardiff; Film London; Queen’s Film Theatre, Belfast; GlasgowFilm; the Independent Cinema Office (for the South East); Showroom Sheffield in partnership with HOME, Manchester &Tyneside Cinema; and Watershed, Bristol.
ABOUT MEMO ARTS CENTRE, BARRY:
The Memo Arts Centre, as a Registered Charity (CIO), is a mixed arts venue and the only digital cinema in Barry. In 2016, the 4k digital cinema and programme was launched, following a grant from Art Council Wales (ACW) and match-funding from the Vale of Glamorgan Council.
The Memo prides itself on offering a local and independent alternative to the multiplexes, and curates a cinema, live broadcast and special event programme internally, promoting mainstream, British independents, documentaries and, where possible, Welsh film and archive film titles.
The Memo’s annual footfall is approximately 110,000 visitors, and 64% of earned income is generated through charitable activities, cinema and live event ticket sales, hospitality, hires and facilities programme, with the remainder made up by revenue funding from Barry Town Council, Film Hub Wales and Ffilm Cymru Wales.
