Filmclub

Organisation

The organisation was founded in September 2006. Led by Chief Executive Mark Higham, a pilot in 2007 was followed by a UK roll-out in April 2008, The charity merged with partner First Light in 2014 to create Into Film

Filmclub gives children from participating schools access to thousands of films through the purchase of a license. Pupils are encouraged to watch a diverse range of films including classics, black and white movies, documentaries, blockbusters and foreign language titles, and to review the films they watch on the organisation's website. The clubs are generally run by teachers or similar education professionals, but may also be led by older pupils, often from a school's Sixth Form. Filmclub also organises school visits by professionals from within the film industry. In England Filmclub is funded by The BFI Lottery Fund. In Wales, Filmclub is funded via the Film Agency Wales, by the Welsh Assembly. Filmclub is funded in Northern Ireland by the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL) through Northern Ireland Screen and delivered by CineMagic and the Nerve Centre. Filmclub receives philanthropic support from LOVEFiLM.

Filmclub Patrons are actor Emma Thompson and director Mike Leigh. Filmclub Ambassador for Wales is actor Michael Sheen, Ambassador for Scotland is director Kevin MacDonald and Ambassador for Northern Ireland is film maker Mark Cousins

Founders

Clubs and activities

There are currently around 7,000 clubs running in England, Northern Ireland, Wales, the Isle of Man and Scotland, with approximately 220,000 young people meeting every week to watch films from around the world. Clubs are run by education professionals, parents and sixth formers.

Each week, ten members are awarded "reviewer of the week' status for the film reviews they have submitted to the website (about 6,000 reviews are uploaded each week onto the website).

Filmclub's 'Young Ambassadors' scheme, where members interviewed film talent at press events and premieres has been replaced by a Talent Development program which enables students to learn more about the industry by attending film events and screenings and taking part in other film industry interactions. The scheme, which includes training workshops and work experiences has three strands – Reporters, Reviewers and Programmers.

All members have the opportunity to interact with film industry professionals through Filmclub's "Close Encounters" activity.

Close Encounters

Filmclub's "Close Encounters" scheme (named after the 1977 science fiction film Close Encounters of the Third Kind) brings pupils into contact with professionals from film, and related industries such as film journalism. Directors, actors, producers, screen-writers, casting directors and costume/set designers have participated in events which typically involve question and answer sessions and workshops. Industry professionals visit schools across the UK to take part in these interview sessions. In addition for five days at the end of each month, Filmclub runs a week of daily live streamed webcasts in which all members can participate by posting questions on Twitter, via email or on the phone. The Close Encounters scheme has also arranged for pupils to visit working film sets.

Participating professionals

Close Encounters have taken place with, amongst others:

Lord Bichard

Throughout his career of over 30 years, Lord Michael Bichard has worked in local and central Government. He was Permanent Secretary of the Department for Employment when it merged with the Department for Education and Skills (United Kingdom) to form the Department for Education and Employment. He served as Permanent Secretary for the new combined department from 1995-2001 and was then appointed to be Rector of the University of the Arts London (formerly The London Institute). He currently holds the post of Director of Institute for Government and serves as Filmclub Chair.

Baroness Kidron

A co-founder and deputy chair of Filmclub, Beeban Kidron's directorial work has attracted many awards including The Prix Italia, BAFTAs, a Golden Hugo, Critics choice at Crietiel, The Lillian Gish award and RTS awards. Her work includes Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Cinderella, Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar, Love at First Sight and Oranges are Not the Only Fruit.

Lindsay Mackie

Lindsay Mackie is a former journalist and is heavily involved in literacy programmes for UK schools. She is a specialist in setting up extra curricular programmes in schools. She is known for setting up the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Award for Young People in 2000 schools within four years. Also, she spearheaded 300 reading clubs with Education Extra and is a co-founder of Filmclub.

Michael Harris

Proprietor of his own management recruitment company for twenty-five years, Harris is now the non-executive director of several media companies. He is also the treasurer at Filmclub, BAFTA and Comic Relief.

Eric Fellner

Eric Fellner is co-chairman of Britain's largest independent production company, Working Title Films. With over 60 film titles to his track record, he has produced or executive-produced three consecutive nominees for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Alan Parker

Alan Parker is founder and chairman of Brunswick Group LLP. The leading international corporate and financial communications firm has over 50 partners across the globe. Brunswick is ranked 1st position in league tables for merger and acquisitions communications advisors in the UK, EU and US. Parker acts as a senior consultant on many of the firm’s retained accounts and takes an active role in special project work.

Janice Middleton

Janice Middleton taught in schools in mining communities in Yorkshire before becoming headteacher at Victoria Primary School in Edlington, near Doncaster in 1989. Middleton is leader of her school's film club and is part of Filmclub's Star incentive and reward scheme for outstanding club leaders. She became a Filmclub Board member in June 2010.

Samira Ahmed

Samira Ahmed has been a news anchor and correspondent on both sides of the Atlantic, and her freelance work as a journalist and presenter includes BBC Radio 4 News, PM and The World Tonight, while her writing for the national press includes features, interviews and analysis on culture, politics and social affairs for The Independent, The Guardian and The Spectator.

Matthew Slotover

Matthew Slotover is the co-publisher of Frieze magazine and co-director of the London art fair of the same name in Regent's Park. He is chair of the South London Gallery board of trustees and has acted as a judge for the Turner Prize.

Sir Alasdair Macdonald

Sir Alasdair is Headteacher of Morpeth School, and since his arrival Morpeth's results at Key Stages Three and Four have improved substantially. In February 1999, Morpeth School received the Evening Standard's first ever award as the Most Improved Secondary in London. In March 2009, Morpeth was one of the schools featured in the Ofsted Report 'Twelve Outstanding Schools – Achieving Excellence against the Odds'. In 2000, Sir Alasdair was awarded the CBE for services to education in Tower Hamlets, and in 2008 a Knighthood for services to both local and national education.

Partners

Filmclub works with the following organisations: