After 10 years of hosting film events all around Glasgow, we’re moving to Bristol
After ten years (and a particularly busy most recent five), Matchbox Cineclub is leaving Glasgow and relocating to Bristol.
For at least the next three years, we’re going to be based in Bristol. We’ll be back every so often (we have at least one Glasgow event planned in 2021), but mostly we’ll be in Bristol, and we don’t yet know what that’ll mean for any IRL events.
This weekend (3rd-6th September, 2020), we should’ve been hosting Weird Weekend III at CCA Glasgow. 2020, cursed year, should’ve seen our cult film festival level up to a much bigger festival. Our plans and even programming for it have been underway since before last year’s festival. Those plans had to be scrapped, rethought, redeveloped, revised and the scrapped again. We accounted for postponement, downscaling, hybrid approaches and completely online versions, but it just wasn’t meant to be this year.
We will be doing more online programming, like our Tales From Winnipeg online-only season, and Weird Weekend will certainly return in some form. But we also want to take some time to rest (we’ve also subtitled 250+ films in the last two months) and regroup, for the first time in several years.
We want to say a very big thank you to everyone who has supported us over the last 10(!) years in Glasgow, particularly CCA Glasgow, The Old Hairdressers, Film Hub Scotland, all our fellow exhibitors, to everyone that’s come to one of our events and, most of all, to those of you who’ve come to several.
It’s very strange to be planning to leave like this. We would’ve loved to host a farewell screening or just had some drinks in a big room, but none of that’s possible. Maybe, with no rooms to set, A/V to prep, bands to soundcheck, bookings to find, tickets to take, guests to entertain, merch to sell, last-minute social media to do, etc, etc, we’d have finally properly prepared an address for the audience, rather than busking some last-minute jibber-jabber. But then probably not. Hands up if you’ve already seen this one.
We love Glasgow and we’ll miss you very much.
Sean + Megan x
This website is full of stuff, interviews, articles, etc, and will become even more active now. You can find our archive of posters and event photographs on Flickr and our trailers and video content on Vimeo and YouTube. Zines, posters and merch are on sale in our shop, matchboxcineclub.bigcartel.com.
Our second Scalarama roundtable of 2020 (hosted on Zoom, Sunday 26/04/20) continued to explore the new challenges independent exhibitors are faced with, but also invited special guests from across the UK and Europe to talk about their current activities. Our main focus was on film licensing, with special guest Greg Walker (Pilot Light TV Festival) on hand to talk about his experiences, good and bad, and share some useful advice.
We passed along updates on current plans for Drive-In screenings across the UK, from Live Cinema and we welcomed Anna Kubelik from Window Flicks, who discussed the development and delivery of their ongoing public screening project in Berlin. Caris from Rianne Pictures spoke about their online quiz collaboration with Screen Queens and Ben from Penarth’s Snowcat Cinema shared his programme of online engagement. Closer to home, Backseat Bingo‘s Casci Ritchie reported on their recent Prince-themed watch-along and Lauren Clark of Femspectives spoke on their ongoing #FemspectivesAtHome activities.
You can watch the entire roundtable here (embedded below, with subtitles), read the transcript here or browse the minutes here. Our 2019 hand-out on the principles and practicalities of film licensing is here.
The next roundtable is Sunday 24th May on Zoom, and we’ll have guests from the world of film exhibition and distribution to discuss new approaches to hosting film screenings online (NB not watch-alongs). Before that, we have a spin-off special in the shape of a In Conversation event with Canadian film programmer and writer Kier-LaJanisse on Sunday 10th May, 6-8pm. Read all about that here.
Scalarama Glasgow’s monthly roundtables continue online (for now). Follow Scalarama Glasgow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay up-to-date.
The next monthly roundtable takes place on Sunday 24th May, on Zoom. Details via the Facebook page, here.
Scalarama in Scotland is supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and Lottery funding from the BFI.
Matchbox Cineclub co-ordinate Scalarama activities in Glasgow every September, and host monthly planning meetings year-round. With a very different context in 2020, we’re starting to think about new approaches to screening film independently
Scalarama’s role is to support, connect and grow with independent film exhibitors of all sizes, from those just starting to think about screening films to fully-fledged festivals and venues of all sizes. In the early months of 2020, film exhibition has been flipped on its head, so our first Scalarama roundtable of 2020 (hosted on Zoom, Sunday 05/04/20) explored the new challenges exhibitors are faced with taking things online.
You can watch the entire roundtable here, read the transcript here or browse the minutes here. The associated hand-out is here.
We were joined by Herb Shellenberger, a film programmer and writer originally from Philadelphia and based in London. Herb is Programmer for the Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival, where he has worked since 2016, and Editor of Rep Cinema International, a newsletter on repertory and archival film programming around the world. Via the latter (which you can sign up for here), Herb was a key advocate for cinemas, festivals and independent exhibitors to #CancelEverything in the early weeks of the global pandemic.
Herb Shellenberger’s #CancelEverything treatise
One of the best takeaways from the discussion was not to worry if your organisation hasn’t started putting things online yet – this seems like it will be a bit of a marathon, not a sprint, and with all exhibition facing the same issues, it’s probably best to have a think about what you want to achieve with your audiences and what’s the best method, for you and your organisation, before throwing all you’ve got at it.
As always, we encourage everyone who is thinking about screening films, online or otherwise, to do so legally – obtaining the right licenses and showing them securely. Online rights are something the industry is still untangling, but it’s worth noting that just because a film is on YouTube or archive.org, or Soviet Movies, or Eastern European Movies (or even Amazon Prime!), doesn’t mean it’s available legitimately.
AGFA’s legendary programming at Alamo Drafthouse is now available worldwide
Most organisations that have been able to take their programming online are showing films by filmmakers they have direct relationships with, or films they already hold the rights to (e.g. AGFA and Alamo Drafthouse’s Terror Tuesday and Weird Wednesday). But join us again via Zoom on Sunday April 26th for our second Scalarama session, when we’ll be discussing film licenses with special guest Greg Walker (Pilot Light TV Festival, Rad Film Screenings, Manchester Animation Festival).
Below, our notes on taking film content online. We’ll update this as we learn more – you can download the notes as a PDF here. Please feel free to let us know how you get on with any of these suggestions – share your own in the comments or by email: info@matchboxcineclub.com.
Megan Mitchell
Taking Things Online
Watch Parties/ Watch Alongs | Watch Parties aim to recreate a communal atmosphere for watching films, promoting audiences to watch a film already available on streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, BBC iPlayer, All 4, Curzon or Mubi at a certain time and participate in discussion throughout the film. This could be within the comments of a Facebook event or page, on Twitter using a specific hashtag or via a dedicated chat group (i.e on WhatsApp, Facebook). Variations on the Watch Party include audiences watching the film at different times and feeding into the discussion at a set time instead.
Consider: Cost, accessibility, content. Watch-alongs on free or freely-accessible platforms like terrestrial/freeview television, BBC iPlayer, YouTube, Vimeo are ideal. Commercial television stations also allow ready-made breaks, ideal for commentary/catching a breath. Check if the film you’re recommending/scheduling has descriptive subtitles/SDH/captions, as all the main television channels do, as well as iPlayer, Netflix and often Amazon Prime. Audio description is often available on Netflix and other platforms too. Finally, content – knowing the film you are going to watch means you can provide content or trigger warnings if necessary. Read more about those here.
Netflix Party | Netflix Party is a free extension for Google Chrome which allows people to watch films currently on Netflix together through a shared link with an accompanying chat function running down one side of the screen. This allows for real-time interactions and engagement, although it does require all attendees to have a Netflix subscription. Hosting Netflix Parties does limit you to the films available on Netflix, but if you have a programming niche or focus (i.e queer representation, forgotten classics, bad films, etc) you could frame a film in this context to offer deeper engagement and get your audiences discussing the film through a specific lens.
Metastream | Metastream is similar to Netflix Party and works with more streaming platforms, like Twitch and Youtube. It’s also available as a Chrome extension. You can have private (invitation-only) or public sessions. NB Since it’s still in development, it’s fiddly and pretty glitchy; “theatre mode” may hide soft subtitles; attendees require their own subscriptions to Netflix, etc.
Two Seven | Works with Netflix, Vimeo, YouTube and private videos. An additional subscription fee is needed for some of the streaming services (e.g. Disney+), though the paid features have been lowered in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Supports video/audio chat. NB Attendees require their own subscriptions to Netflix, etc.
Twitch | Free and paid options to stream videos, usually used by gamers to stream gameplay but exhibitors like Spectacle Theatre are using the platform to screen a film once a week.
Vimeo | Vimeo is a video streaming platform, with free and paid-for options depending on what you need, and no ads. Deptford Cinema are currently screening shorts and features by local filmmakers on Vimeo, with a £2 pay-all or free if you email them. Glasgow Short Film Festival also use Vimeo for the embedded shorts on their website.
Live/ Recorded Introductions and Q+As
Film screenings aren’t the only things we can take online – there are a number of platforms that can facilitate live or pre-recorded activity.
Zoom | You’ll be forgiven for never having heard of Zoom before the past few weeks. It’s like Skype only a bit better, allowing you to video chat with multiple people, whilst also having typed chat and document sharing. This can be useful if you’re wanting to run post-screening discussions with audiences or live Q&As. You just download it onto your laptop/device or you can use the website, then set-up an account to set-up meetings or access them. NB optimise your settings and apply best practice to avoid unwelcome intrusion from randoms.
Facebook Live / YoutubeLive | Facebook Live is useful if you’re hosting a watch-along or a set-time screening and would like to provide the audience a live introduction. This can be posted on your main page or in the event page for whatever event you’re doing, if you have created one. Cinemaattic have been using Facebook Live, via Zoom, to host their Sunday evening chats / Q&A sessions.
Periscope TV | Periscope is a free streaming app that you can use on your mobile to go ‘live’ on the Periscope platform and on Twitter. Useful if you’re doing a live film introduction or give live updates about your organisations or some informal chats.
Hashtags | Using a dedicated hashtag (such as #WatchingWithMatchbox or #FemspectivesAtHome) across all social media sites can connect your audiences, whether it be for a watch party, post-screening discussion or just to offer a unified thread for film-related chat tied into your organisation.
Articles/ Film Writing | Film screenings aren’t the only things we can do online to stay engaged with our audiences. It’s a good time to research and develop ideas and especially to write on some film-related topics for your own website or blog or even just social media.
Quizzes | Online quizzes are proving an easy and popular way for organisations to continue to engage audiences, creating a sense of community and something fun to do together. These can be hosted on Facebook Live (like The Skinny) or via Zoom (like Screen Queenz) with interactive Google forms as quiz sheets or simply a downloadable document people can type into.
Scalarama Glasgow’s monthly roundtables continue online (for now). Follow Scalarama Glasgow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay up-to-date.
The next monthly roundtable takes place on Sunday 26th April, on Zoom. Details at the Facebook event page, here.
Scalarama in Scotland is supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and Lottery funding from the BFI.
Read Helen Wright of Scottish Queer International Film Festival (SQIFF)’s presentation on making your film screenings and events accessible to everyone
At the July Scalarama Glasgow meet-up, Helen Wright (Scottish Queer International Film Festival) gave a presentation and led a discussion on accessibility for film screenings. Helen covered basic principles, and practical access measures for screenings and for marketing film events.
Helen has very kindly allowed us to host the PowerPoint (above), which formed the basis of her presentation. Material from all of 2019’s Scalarama meetings/workshops in Glasgow, including guides to licensing, venues, tech set-up and social media, here.
Scalarama Glasgow is running monthly meetings in the lead-up to September’s season of DIY film programming. They’re aimed at helping exhibitors brand-new and experienced alike to put on films, and each month has two invited experts on different aspects of film exhibition. They’re free and open to all, full details here.
If you have any questions or could use some advice, get in touch with us here:info@matchboxcineclub.com
Tips, specs and software for perfecting your DIY film screening
At the May Scalarama Glasgow meet-up, Eileen Daily (Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, Document Film Festival, Picture Window) gave a presentation and led a discussion on basic tech set-up for DIY/non-theatrical film screenings, covering film formats, how to prepare films to get the best presentation and what free software is available to help you do all of this easily.
We’re hosting Eileen’s PowerPoint (above), which formed the basis of her presentation and covers basic terminology, ideal technical specs and useful guides to that free software (plus hot-links to download it).
Scalarama Glasgow is running monthly meetings in the lead-up to September’s season of DIY film programming. They’re aimed at helping exhibitors brand-new and experienced alike to put on films, and each month has two invited experts on different aspects of film exhibition. They’re free and open to all, full details here.
If you have any questions or could use some advice, get in touch with us here:info@matchboxcineclub.com
