Keswick Film Club
As part of the preparations for this year’s Film Society of the Year Awards, we'll be taking a look some past winners in the Featured Exhibitor slot. This month we hear from Keswick Film Club - winners of Best Website in 2008, the Engholm Prize for Film Society of the Year in 2006 and no less than 4 awards for Best Programming since their inception in 1999. In this piece, David Miller takes us through what makes Keswick Film Club's programme award winning.
- Object of Keswick Film Club (KFC)
To bring films to Keswick that otherwise would not be screened irrespective of the commercial value of doing so; artistic merit is the prime driver.
- Selection and Research
Two people currently sit on the selction commitee which has always been kept deliberately small. Members are invited to nominate titles and the Committee has to ratify the proposed selection. The owner of our venue, the Lonsdale Alhambra, also vets the selection.
To keep up to date with all the latest film news and reviews, KFC subscribes to Sight & Sound. Newspapers such as The Independent, The Guardian, The Times and The Observer all have highly respected film critics and their reviews are a good source of information. Database websites such as www.imdb.com and www.rottentomatoes.com are also extremely useful. However, the most valuable websites are those run by film festivals – see www.filmfestivals.com and follow whatever links take your eye.
We find that attending the BFFS National Conference is essential as this gives access to a whole host of films that might otherwise escape attention as well as providing an opportunity to network and get ideas – there is little point in trying to re-invent the wheel. The ICO Screening Days are another useful source of films. In addition, for news of up-coming titles there is no better site than www.launchingfilms.com. And, of course, websites of other film societies are a rich source.
- Format
KFC has the advantage of being able to use the equipment based in the our cinema venue - this allows 35mm screenings. The Club has also invested in a top-end DVD projector which is also used for ‘KFC-on-the-Road’, a travelling screening service bringing cinema to more remote parts of Cumbria.
- Programme
As noted above, the object of KFC is to bring to Keswick titles that would not otherwise be screened. Selection has always been on artistic, not commercial, merit. This has led to audience sizes from less than 10, to being completely sold out (260 admissions). The balance has been in favour of films not in the English language – some 70% of titles screened at KFC have been in a foreign language. All screenings are introduced, have programme notes projected on-screen using Powerpoint and printed programme notes are distributed. KFC screens 14-16 films per season, including special screenings of titles that may appeal to a more specialist audience.
The Club also hosts an annual film festival during February, bringing a further 37 titles to the town (along with special guests and ancillary events). The Festival usually features the works of an individual, has some themed titles, offers the best of world festivals and aims to attract new works and pre-releases. KFC also supplements it's weekly programme with screenings of short films, culmintaing in a shorts competition element during the festival.
Finally, KFC offers out-lying villages with no other cinema provison the opportunity to attend local screenings of more mainstream titles - we tailor the programme to suit the audience.
Programming films that are more challenging, subtitled and made with a cheap budget tend to attract a loyal audience that is more likely to come every week and trust in the film selection. Since beginning, KFC has seen a rise in average weekly attendance from below 50 in the early days, to a current level of 120+. This has led to a healthy surplus that has been ploughed back into the Club and the Festival.
- Conclusion
Programming is not a science. It is all about having a consistent approach that enthuses enough people to want to come to see a film, and then want to try the next one, and the next. Never try to pre-judge likely attendance or try to programme to a majority - the commercial cinemas do this. Do your research and offer an event that otherwise could not be experienced.
www.keswickfilmclub.org
