September is Bisexuality Visibility Month, during which is Bi Visibility Day on September 23rd. It’s a month to come together in solidarity to unite, raise awareness, challenge erasure and celebrate bisexual and biromantic people and communities.
Events celebrating Bi Visibility which are needed more than ever for those who may be less visible and more marginalised at this time.
Activists and allies can support bisexual people, and the LGBTQIA community by:
Now is as important as ever to support the work of LGBTQ+ filmmakers and stories. We have some lists of films here which focus on bisexual stories or characters, however bisexuality can often be misrepresented and/or underrepresented in film. We hope increasing awareness and visibility will springboard more authentic representation in film, both onscreen and behind the camera.
If you are interested in running a film inspired event, we have provided some links below for further information to help inspire programming in your venue, or for running events or activity online.
Learning Disability Week, taking place in the third week of June is presented by Mencap.
Learning disabled people are chronically underrepresented in the film industry. This is a time to reflect on supporting learning disabled representation in the film industry as well as consider access to cinema for neurodivergent audiences.
Oska Bright, based in Brighton is the worlds biggest learning disability film festival. Find out more about their amazing work here. Mencap community group of people with a learning disability took a look at four films which were shown as part of the Oska Bright 2024 Film Festival. You can watch the films here.
Daydream Cinema provide accessible screenings for neurodiverent and disabled audiences. The Connect With Film: Neurodivergent Short Film Programme features several films by learning disabled filmmakers, and will be screened FREE online during Learning Disability Week. Watch it here from Saturday 22nd – Sunday 23rd June 2024.
In 2019, FAN New Releases supported Signature’s title The Peanut Butter Falcon, a modern Mark Twain-esque adventure starring Shia LaBeouf (American Honey, Fury) as a small-time outlaw turned unlikely coach who joins forces with Zack Gottsagen‘s Zak, a young man with Down Syndrome on the run from a nursing home with the dream of becoming a professional wrestler. You can now watch The Peanut Butter Falcon on BFI Player.
You can also watch the film My Feral Heart on Amazon Prime. A drama in which Luke (Steven Brandon), a young man with Down’s syndrome who prizes his independence, is forced into a care home after the death of his mother. There he rails against the restrictions imposed on him, but his frustrations are allayed by his budding friendships with his care-worker Eve (Shana Swash) and a mysterious feral girl (Pixie Le Knot).
If you’re interested in running a relaxed screening to help bring in Learning Disabled audiences to your cinema, find out more in our quick tips for running relaxed screenings. You may also find some transferable advice in our autism-friendly screenings guide, though bear in mind much of this advice is specific to people living with autism, not necessarily those who are Learning Disabled. Ideally, consult with Learning Disabled groups in your area for advice and expertise.
June is LGBTQIA+ Pride Month in the United Kingdom. It commemorates the Stonewall riots and aims to recognise the impact LGBTQIA+ people have had and continue to have across the world.
It’s a month for communities to come together in solidarity to unite, to protest and to celebrate the heritage, culture and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual people.
Activists and allies can support by:
There are a wealth of films available on the LGBTQIA+ experience and history. It’s now as important as ever to support the work of LGBTQIA+ filmmakers and we have some lists and suggestions to get you started.
You can learn about how to become a more LGBTQIA+ friendly organisation, and think about how to support and collaborate with LGBTQIA+ led exhibitors and programmers.
When running LGBTQIA+ events is is important to consider intersectionality, including supporting global majority communities and ensuring your events embed disabled and neurodivergent access.
If you are interested in running a film event for, or inspired by, Pride, here are some resources for information and to help generate ideas, from case studies to film guides.
Volunteers’ Week takes place in June every year, this week it runs from 3rd – 9th June. It’s a chance to say thank you for the contribution millions of volunteers make across the UK to support our communities.
The Week is open to anyone to take part – this can include carrying out an act of kindness, doing some volunteering or contributing to discussion. Find more information here.
The week is led in partnership by NCVO, Volunteer Scotland, Volunteer Now (Northern Ireland) and Wales Council for Voluntary Action and supported by organisations across the UK.
Hundreds of community cinemas across the UK are volunteer-run, with people bringing their love of cinema and the audience experience to life in their communities. There are also many other independent venues that simply would not be able to provide the special and personal experiences they do without the support of volunteers. This is a week to give extra thanks to these brilliant people.
At least 1 in 6 people in the UK are affected by deafness. This number incorporates a wide range of experiences and forms of communication, but no matter the specific need, the d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing deserve to be able to enjoy the cinema. We created this guide to help you understand the challenges Deaf people … More
In 2019, This Way Up took to Nottingham for the event’s sixth edition, which kicked off with opening sessions reflecting the key themes of the overall conference: Celebration, Resilience and The Future.
The conference featured more talks around inclusion than ever before, and we at Inclusive Cinema captured four of our favourite talks so those who couldn’t make the event could still get the benefit of case studies and insights shared.
The talks below are provided by the following speakers:
Rabab Ghazoul, the Founder & Director of Welsh cultural organisation platform Gentle/Radical, shared her vision of what the future of working with audiences could be. What does ‘outreach’ look like now, and what could it become?
Karena Johnson, Artistic Director and CEO, Hoxton Hall, shared her experience of re-launching Hoxton Hall, a Victorian music hall, and tackling the sometimes uncomfortable issue of diversity. She led a workshop session where delegates were invited to explore their own approach. She spoke about shifting organisational culture, bringing a team with you on a journey and how to manage expectations.
Rico Johnson-Sinclair, Director and Programmer of CineQ Birmingham discussed campaigning for queer, trans, and intersex people of colour’s stories on screen and how he reaches audiences.
Nikki Stratton, Co-Founder & Director, Deaffest looked at the best ways to market to D/deaf audiences. Catherine Downes (Co-Founder, usheru) discussed their work aiming to reach those that start the ticket-buying process but don’t complete the all-important checkout process. With tips and tricks to maximise the potential of your marketing output.
Since 2019, all of Matchbox Cineclub’s screenings are subtitled, part of our commitment to making our events as accessible as possible. We also provide a professional subtitling service, with a particular expertise in film exhibition. Matchbox Cine can provide descriptive subtitles/SDH/captions for theatrical and non-theatrical exhibition, trailers, social media, broadcast television or any moving image … More
We can offer advice on the best practice and professional tips for creating online subtitles yourself, which includes 1 to 1 training in the online subtitling methods
Wondering how to add subtitles to your videos? Frustrated with the inaccuracy of automated transcription? In this article, you’ll learn how to create a customized SRT file to add time-stamped captions to your videos.
In our multi-tasking world, few of us sit down at our computers to watch online videos. In fact, 75% of all video plays are on mobile devices rather than desktops or laptops. And since we’re watching these videos while we’re on-the-go, a huge number of them are watched with no sound. At work, on the … More
