David Farnor | On 09, Aug 2021

The Independent Cinema Office is opening the virtual doors on the Cinema of Ideas this summer.

A new virtual platform, the revenue-sharing service will partner cinemas across the UK to provide an additional online screen for venues, which will showcase events that have ideas, culture, discussion and engagement at their heart.

Starting this August, the platform will host a series of online events running into 2022 and beyond, amplifying different stories through collaboration, discussion and film. The Cinema of Ideas will bring underappreciated strands of film culture and heritage directly to audiences and create a welcoming public forum for critical discussion.

This collaborative project, supported by BFI funds from the National Lottery, will feature contributions from filmmakers, artists, archivists, film historians, film critics, freelance film collectives and the work of emerging curators. Later this year, there will be an open call to fund two curatorial voices from underrepresented groups to programme films and discussion events.

Conversations and specially commissioned writings on the platform will aim to reflect national, transnational and intergenerational concerns and address issues around race, disability, gender, sexuality and class for audiences that have been traditionally underserved by the exhibition sector.

The first event will be led by Aleema Gary, researcher and community history curator at the Museum of London, on Archival Resistance: Rastafari Women in Britain,. It will include a live panel with curator June Givanni and writer Rasheda Ashanti Malcolm, while D Elmina Davis’ documentary Omega Rising Women of Rastafari will stream alongside it at 7pm on 26th August.

Participating cinemas currently include Chapter Cardiff, Saffron Screen, Northampton Filmhouse, Wellington Orbit in Telford and Barn Dartington in Totnes, with more expected to join. For more information about your venue joining the initiative, contact info@independentcinemaoffice.org.uk. To access the platform, head to cinemaofideas.org.uk.

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