Setting up a film club - please help!
November 30, 2011 7:35 AM   Subscribe

I want to put a film club together. Looking for ideas and advice on things I should prepare for.

I want to put together a few projects to celebrate British culture in my country and one of these possibilities include setting up a film club.

It would be great if I could learn a bit from people who have been there and done that - such as logistics, contacting film distribution companies, marketing of the project, social media, sponsorship deals, any risks to bear in mind and anything else you could share.

Ideas from indie film club fans on things they like/dislike and cool experiences they've had also appreciated.

Many thanks for reading this!
posted by heartofglass to Society & Culture (1 answer total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Some related questions from AskMe's past:

How do I start a local, open-to-the-public film society?
What do I need to start an awesome indie movie theater?
Nonprofit film screenings: fees and permissions legalfilter
and if you're thinking actual film prints rather than DVDs or whatever: Help me find a print of a movie for screening in a cinema

A little more specificity about what you are envisioning would help, such as:
Do you want to show films as in "from the vaults of the BFI, or films as in "from the corner video store"?
Do you mean "celebrate the culture of British immigrants to my country" or "celebrate the culture of Britain even though I live elsewhere"?
Who is the intended audience? Older/younger folks? People with a British connection?
Aside from being celebrational, will your screenings be more entertainment oriented or more educationally oriented? (Obviously they could be both!)
Will you have people introducing the screenings? Discussions afterward?
Are you interested only in contemporary films, or are you also interested in historic ones?
What venues are available to you?
What projection equipment is available to you?
Do you have a budget?
Are you working on this project alone, or with other people, or with an organization?

Knowing your location would also be helpful for giving specific advice about dealing with film rights, acquiring copies of the films in question (on actual film OR on DVD/digital), distribution companies, sponsorships, etc. A lot of that stuff is pretty locale-specific (as you'll see if you dig into that last thread I linked to).

Regardless of where you are, getting in touch with a local British cultural organization will probably be helpful for both funding and sourcing films (at least if my experience with French, German, and Japanese film programming is any indication).

I run a film society in Chicago. If you have any questions you are welcome to memail me!
posted by bubukaba at 12:42 PM on November 30, 2011


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