A recent dip in female-led theatrical releases in the UK - back to 2018 levels of 26% reminds us that our work is far from over; that we cannot be complacent.
Below you can read about the research we conduct into gender representation in film and the wider industry, tracking the release landscape to present an accurate picture of investment in films by filmmakers of marginalised genders.
Here you can also find out about news and opportunities at Reclaim The Frame, along with curated film recommendations, filmmaker interviews, and creative responses.
Updated: Oct 24, 2023
With big love and solidarity to all cinema workers, we were saddened (though sadly not surprised) to read the findings from the Independent Cinema Office's report last week.
The challenges faced by the sector - summarised below from 157 surveys submitted – are very real, and as a charity that works closely with 20+ venues in 16 cities we know how tough it is right now and the distressing impact it’s having on our partners and colleagues across the UK.
It should come as a blow to us all that 42% of venues said they can only continue to operate within the current climate for between three months to a year, especially when the UK has already lost multiple independent cinemas in the past year.
(Re)building audiences for cultural cinema requires a careful combination of person-centred audience development work and risk taking, both of which require subsidy. We fully back the recommendations of the 50% of respondents who said they need further public/government financial support, through organisational grants and a reduction in Sales VAT.
At Reclaim The Frame we take this report to be a start reminder of the importance of, and responsibility for, our collaborations in working with partner venues on two of their top priorities: increasing audiences and engaging new audiences. 45% of Reclaim The Frame attendees are stepping foot in the venue for the first time, and fostering a sense of community, and encouraging collective watching are a core part of the work.
Big thanks as always to our friends at ICO for their leadership, and to all of us in the sector let this be a call to action for us to rally support for our local indie cinemas.
Running for an eighth edition and supported by the ScreenSkills Film Skills Fund with contributions from UK film productions, Filmonomics is Reclaim The Frame’s flagship training programme.
Now open for applications from first time feature film screenwriters, directors and producers of marginalised genders across the UK. Projects can be fiction, documentary or hybrid, and currently in development, pre-production and post production, screening at film festivals or distributed, or recently completed.
The course runs from December 2023 to March 2024, in-person and online, and involves a mix of industry panels, round tables, group coaching, screenings and networking with the aim of bridging the gap between development and distribution.
Lear more about Filmonomics, including how to apply over on our Training Page.
Happy International Day of the Girl!
Today, we're launching Reclaim The Frame For All - an important campaign to enable our work (and the work of our filmmakers) to be more accessible to a wider audience.
As the UK's leading charity promoting gender equity in cinema, we're stepping up to help create a more equitable experience for our Deaf and disabled audiences as well as those with access needs, and you can help us too.
We’ve been chosen by the UK’s biggest online match funding platform, The Big Give, to be part of their 2023 Women and Girls Match Fund to make our aspirations a reality.
We’re all too aware that films made by people of marginalised genders don’t reach the audiences they deserve - in 2022 only 24% of all the films released in the UK were made by women / non-binary person(s).
Furthermore, a lack of accessible film screenings means audiences with access needs (such as those who are Deaf, hard-of-hearing, blind, and partially sighted) are left behind - our goal is to take an intersectional approach to our work where we bring diverse screen stories to diverse audiences.
Donations made via the Big Give website from today until 18 October 2023 will have twice the impact! If Reclaim The Frame can raise £2,500, your generosity will be doubled to £5,000 to support audiences with access needs.
The funds will enable us to commission audio description and descriptive subtitles for two independent films made by a filmmaker of marginalised genders (where these access materials are not already available). They’ll be shown across 16 cities in which Reclaim The Frame operates, and made available more widely, for its entire UK cinema release and online.
We will also provide live captioning at film events for each release which will either take the form of a conversation with the filmmaker, or a more general discussion or relevant activity around the topics/themes of the film. Live-captioning post-screening activity will ensure that audiences who need descriptive subtitles will also be able to access and engage with the discussion elements of our events, creating as equal an experience as possible.
How can you help?
Film and the experiences of going to the cinema should be available to the widest audience possible so we’d love it if you can help amplify our mission to Reclaim The Frame For All in the following ways:
DONATE: You can donate to our campaign here, for every pound you’ve donated it will be matched by The Big Give, meaning your money goes even further!
SHARE: Your voice is so valuable, if you can share details of our campaign on your social channels we’d be supremely grateful.
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Support @reclaimtheframe to make films by filmmakers of marginalised genders accessible for audiences with access needs by donating to their #ReclaimTheFrameForAll @BigGive campaign. Be part of the change: https://bit.ly/RTFTheBigGive
We look forward to keeping in touch. Your support is so important, so thank you for taking the time to read more about our latest campaign.
All the best,
Melanie & all the team at Reclaim The Frame
