For the second year in a row, Northern Ireland’s Newcastle Community Cinema scooped the Engholm Prize for Film Society of the Year at the prestigious BFFS Film Society of the Year Awards in London on Sunday 22 September.
The awards recognise and reward the hard work and dedication of volunteer-led community cinemas and film societies, and are hosted by the British Federation of Film Societies. In the awards’ 44 year history, no organisation has ever been awarded the Engholm Prize in two consecutive years. BFFS Managing Director Deborah Parker said:
‘The judges were blown away with the level of work done by NCC. We’re not sure if they’ve had any sleep since their first win, as they’ve managed to double, even triple their efforts. They’ve engaged with every group that has come to them with offers of collaboration, have made every single screening an event not to be missed and have made their film nights the talk of the town, the country and even the whole of the UK. Beyond all this hard work, they have been doing an exceptional job of representing the community of community cinemas – shouting about the power of volunteer-led cinema and making sure that their impact will last a lifetime.’
Those who attended the awards were treated to an annual address from BFFS President and renowned film critic, Derek Malcolm, as well as a surprise video message from new BFFS Patron, Warp Films’ Mark Herbert. French directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano also sent a delightful video message in which they accepted the Film Society Film of the Year Award for their film Untouchable (Intouchables), which was voted for by film society audiences and organisers from all across the UK.
For his dedication to the film society movement, the Roebuck Cup was awarded to BFFS Scotland Chair Neil Chue Hong. BFFS are proud to be able to pay tribute to such a great man who works tirelessly towards the ideal of Cinema For All.
The Film Society of the Year Awards were generously sponsored by non-theatrical licensing specialists, the Motion Picture Licensing Company (MPLC). MPLC Commercial Manager, David Taylor said, ‘We would like to thank BFFS for allowing us to again sponsor the Film Society of the Year Awards. Not only is it a wonderful event, but the members’ enthusiasm, dedication and creativity is both refreshing and really quite infectious.’
In recognition of the work volunteers do in their communities, non-theatrical distributors Filmbank again presented one lucky winner with £1000 towards developing their future activities. Majella Griffin, Filmbank General Manager, presented this year’s winner Llancarfan Community Cinema with the prize.
On behalf of Llancarfan Community Cinema volunteers, Jim Barratt said, ‘Our audience drives everything we do, so we’re hugely happy and proud to win the Filmbank Audience Award. In our first year we’ve benefited from fabulous local support, and we plan to put the prize money to good use improving our screen and sound system. High quality presentation leads to happier audiences, which makes it all worthwhile.’
The Film Society of the Year Awards were sponsored by MPLC. The Filmbank Audience Award and celebratory drinks reception were sponsored by Filmbank. The Student Cinema award was sponsored by Sheffield Hallam University and the Best New Society Award was sponsored by WRS Insurance.
Other event supporters included the BFI, AVCOM and Institut Français. Prizes were kindly donated by Network Releasing, Axiom Films, Trinity Films, FILMCLUB, Dogwoof and Warp Films.
The full list of winners can be found here.
And for those that don’t know the BFFS is the national organisation for the development and support of the film society and community cinema movement in the UK. Its 550+ member organisations across the UK represent a membership of over 68,000 individuals. BFFS members screen about 8,000 films per year of over 800 different titles. BFFS has supported specialised (art-house) cinema exhibition in the voluntary sector since its inception over 60 years ago and today continues to provide advice, technical support and education opportunities to communities across the UK. Each year BFFS hosts the UK Film Society of the Year Awards, recognising excellence in all aspects of film society and community cinema endeavours.
BFFS extends a diversity of viewing choice critical within the UK cultural economy and offers increased opportunities for access and diversity – not only in more remote regions of the country where access to any sort of cinema is restricted, but also in metropolitan areas with no alternative to mainstream titles. Community exhibitors have a strong history of bringing to audiences those films not on general commercial release and in this way have provided national exposure for many minority interest and foreign-language films. Many recent specialised films made here and abroad owe much of their exhibition opportunities in Britain to film societies and community cinemas.