At Cinema Rediscovered 2022, Reframing Film brought together some of the most distinctive voices in film curation and archiving for a series of sessions on the potential of reframing film heritage as part of FAN Conversations. Catch up on some of the highlights now available on YouTube with captions c/o Matchbox Cine.
For Reframing Film – The Ripple Effect of Festivals
The session looked at the impact festivals can have in bringing attention to films from the past and in broadening and reframing “the canon.” After a two year hiatus when festivals adapted to online or hybrid screenings and audiences have been able to access more films online, this was an opportunity to reflect on the importance and impact of IRL festivals. The session looked at the role festivals have in creating opportunities for wider audience engagement through distinctive programming, local outreach, international collaborations, touring programmes and partnerships with distributors and streaming platforms. The session included guests Ehsan Khoshbakht (Il Cinema Ritrovato), Matthew Barrington (Barbican and Essay Film Festival) and Kristi Matheson (Edinburgh Film Festival) and was chaired by Mark Cosgrove (Cinema Rediscovered Founder and Watershed Cinema Curator.)
Reframing Film: Repertory Programming all year round
Whilst cinemas were closed during COVID-19, people’s viewing habits have evolved, migrating to the many opportunities online, accessing a plethora of films from the safety and comfort of their homes. As cinemas are working hard to regain audiences’ attention, where does repertory programming and re-releases fit into the post-covid cinema world? This session explored audience appetite and interest in seeing older films on the big screen as well as the strategies that cinemas are developing to attract audiences back for those films. Guest speakers including Wendy Cook (Hyde Picturehouse, Leeds), Paul Gallagher (Glasgow Film Theatre), Isra Al Kassi (T.A.P.E. Collective) and was hosted by Mark Cosgrove (Cinema Rediscovered Founder & Watershed Cinema Curator.)
Deconstructing Ownership of and Access to African Archive Film
As an extension of Cinema Rediscovered’s strand Women’s Stories from the Global South (and To Whom They Belong) – and conversations around barriers to restoration and restitution, join curatorial collaborators Mosa Mpetha (Black Cinema Project), Darragh Amelia and Jesse Gerard (Ajabu Ajabu) in dialogue. Alongside guests June Givanni (June Givanni Pan African Cinema Archive) and Martin Mhando (Dir. Maangamizi – & Zanzibar International Film Festival), they discussed the dynamics of ownership that have historically reserved access to classic African cinema.
The event’s aim was to collectively envision alternative approaches to distribution that centre access to African films for marginalised film audiences. Drawing example from informal modes of distribution being conducted by Ajabu Ajabu through the Re-Release of Maangamizi: The Ancient One in Tanzania — it looked at the possibilities of legitimising the work of informal film exhibitors and practitioners, imagining the act of preservation along modes of continuous access for global film communities.
