The conference will address a range of priority issues for the sector which is struggling with challenging market conditions, including financial resilience, programming, young audience development, marketing, environmental sustainability, inclusivity and accessibility.

Running over three days, attendees representing independent cinemas, film festivals, collectives, community cinemas, archives from all nations and regions of the UK, will enjoy a programme largely drawn from over 50 submissions to an open call from the Network. The conference features speakers from the FAN member organisations and will also highlight many successful and innovative projects delivered with BFI FAN support.

Ann Griffiths, BFI’s Senior Manager of National Lottery Audience Partnerships, said: “As well as supporting a wealth of audience-facing activity across the UK, we believe it is also important for the BFI Film Audience Network to help strengthen the sector long term. A new conference for exhibitors which is focused on sharing learnings and best practice, as well as addressing the broader challenges facing the sector, aims to support UK exhibitors to diversify their offer and grow engagement with audiences.”

BFI FAN CON speakers include:

• Paul Lofting, Sales Director, Paramount Pictures
• Jack Powell, Director of Policy & Public Affairs, British Film Institute
• Jen Smith, Interim CEO, Creative Industries Standards Authority
• Catharine Des Forges, Director, Independent Cinema Office
• Mimi Turtle, CEO of the Strand Arts Centre, Belfast
• Robert McCann Finn, Break Out Pictures
• Gill Cooper, Wildcard Distribution
• Wendy Cook, Head of Cinema at Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds
• Yi Wang, Director, Queer East.

Programmed and delivered by Film Hub South East (ICO) on behalf of the wider BFI Film Audience Network, BFI FAN CON aims to support a stronger and more connected approach to growing audiences for UK and International film on the big screen and to create a stronger more confident sector.

Joan Parsons, Head of Queen’s Film Theatre and Interim Head of Culture and Arts at Queen’s University Belfast said: “We’re excited that Northern Ireland is going to be hosting a major BFI FAN event for the first time. In particular, the opening film, Pat O’Connor’s Cal has a special resonance for us at Queen’s Film Theatre as it was a huge success on its release and really helped establish QFT as the place to watch Irish film in Belfast. Featuring a young John Lynch and Helen Mirren, as a young Catholic widow of a Protestant policeman, Cal stunned the 1984 Cannes Film Festival with Mirren unexpectedly picking up the Best Actress Award.  We  were only just able to screen a very poor-quality print at our 50-year anniversary in 2018, so after a lot of hard work from us, Film Hub NI, Goldcrest, Warner Brothers and Park Circus, I’m thrilled we’re able to share a new digital version of this captivating piece of Northern Irish film history with exhibitors at BFI FAN CON and then with cinema audiences across the UK.”

The conference also seeks to build on the success of BFI FAN, which in the six years up to March 2023, has:

• Distributed over £8m in National Lottery support to 2,428 projects
• BFI FAN exceeded audience targets to reach over 2.3m people.

This work has since continued in the new iteration of BFI FAN with highlights in 2023/24, including the upcoming Art of Action programme and 2023’s Cinema Unbound: The Creative Worlds of Powell and Pressburger.

Key training opportunities provided by BFI FAN have included the well-established REACH: Strategic Audience Development course and the new Revisiting Your Cinema Business Model which ran for the first time in 2024. At the conference, it is being announced that both courses will return in 2025 alongside a new dedicated one-day Environmental Summit for those looking to deepen their commitment to environmental sustainability as well as meet growing audience expectations of action from cultural organisations.

The conference will open with the industry premiere of a new digital version of Pat O’Connor’s landmark Northern Irish film Cal (1984) featuring Helen Mirren and John Lynch, bringing this Troubles-era classic back into exhibition circulation after many years where options were limited to poor-quality prints.

BFI FAN CON and the BFI Film Audience Network are funded by the National Lottery. Additional support has come from a partnership with Northern Ireland Screen and our sponsors CinemaNext and Filmbankmedia.

The event is hosted by Queen’s Film Theatre and Queen’s University Belfast and delivered by Film Hub South East (Independent Cinema Office).

You can view the full schedule and session details on the conference web page.