As part of its year-round Outreach programme, Belfast Film Festival is working with a number of venues throughout Northern Ireland on the BFI Neighbourhood Touring Cinema Project. The pilot scheme aims to deliver a series of screenings in rural areas and hard to reach communities in urban areas.
Funded by the BFI and delivered in partnership with Film Hub NI, the project will grow audiences for film at a community level and increase audience choice and access to British and specialised film. Belfast Film Festival will provide any technical assistance needed and liaise with the clubs on the promotion of each screening.
The three already established film clubs participating are Portrush Film Theatre, Newcastle Community Cinema, and Fermanagh Film Club. New clubs that have been formed as part of BFI Neighbourhood Touring Project include the Craic Theatre, Coalisland and at Tí Chulainn, South Armagh. Each club will screen up to 10 films over a twelve-month period.
The new club in Tí Chulainn is called Tí scannán and will be launched on Thursday 3rd November with a screening of local success story Boogaloo and Graham followed by alien invasion comedy Grabbers. Future screenings include Pride (1st December) and Liam Neeson and James Nesbitt in Five Minutes of Heaven (5th January), both of which will be followed by a discussion on the themes contained in the films.
READ MORE – Action: the rise of community film clubs in Northern Ireland