Our vision is to inspire a new generation by presenting film and film culture in new ways which make it an essential and compelling part of learning, understanding, and valuing ourselves and the communities in which we live.

The following are key film exhibition priorities for Film Hub Midlands:

• Cultural Engagement

Our ambition is to give everyone, everywhere in the UK the opportunity to engage with the richest and most diverse range of great British and international filmmaking, past, present and future. Cultural Cinema should be for everyone, everywhere. Our exhibitions funds aims to maximise the number of audiences engaging with independent film across our region.

• Developing young audiences (16-30)

Young audiences are key to the health of the exhibition sector both now and in the future. By engaging with young people, organisations can introduce new audiences to their work and foster future generations of cinemagoers. Supported projects focused on young audiences may target a segment of the 16-30 audience or the group as a whole.

• Promoting inclusivity

We are committed to ensuring that the breadth of our communities are able to enjoy a range of film and are working to tackle under-representation in the exhibition industry: be that on our screens, in the workforce or among audiences. We are particularly interested in supporting proposals that address under-representation among disabled, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic and LGBTQ+ groups.

• Showcasing Screen Heritage

Screen heritage material deepens our understanding of both the past and present. We can support activities that showcase various types of screen heritage material. The focus is on material from the national and regional archives and from other moving image collections, as well as fiction films from UK and world cinema history. 

Our commitment to inclusion

• BFI Diversity Standards

In line with the BFI Diversity Standards we encourage activity aimed at, and/or co-produced with, under-represented groups. The Standards focus on under-representation in relation to age, disability, ethnicity, gender, LGBTQ+, religion and belief (as they pertain to the Equality Act 2010), as well as socio-economic background and geographical location.

We are particularly committed to ensuring disproportionately affected audiences, such as Black, disabled, Deaf, and neurodivergent people, can experience independent film and be welcomed into cinema spaces.

All of our funds ask applicants to demonstrate how their organisation promotes inclusivity among audiences, on screen and in the workforce.

We ask that all our members embrace the Standards, and financial support priority will be given to organisations that do this in a clear and convincing way. Applicants should particularly focus on Standard D and how their organisation provides inclusive audience development opportunities.

The Hub team is on hand to help applicants interpret the Standards, please get in touch for more information.

Additional areas of focus

• Environmental Sustainability

We are committed to minimising the environmental impact of the work we support and ask all funding recipients to contribute to this aim. All our funds ask applicants to summarise steps they are taking to minimise the environmental impact of their activity.

Some inspiring examples of exhibitors working in this area include: Scott Cinemas, HOME, Curzon and Depot. The BFI has a number of recommended resources that may be useful when planning around sustainability.

• Bullying and Harassment

Bullying, harassment and racism have no place in our industries and we expect all organisations we fund to share our commitment to this principle.

The BFI and BAFTA have developed a set of principles and zero-tolerance guidance in consultation with organisations, unions and industry bodies across the film, television and games industry in response to urgent and systemic issues. 

These documents can be found in the BFI’s Bullying and harassment prevention hub. We ask all applicants to engage with these principles by, as a minimum, reading these documents and sharing them within your organisation. 

All our funding agreements include a warranty seeking compliance with all applicable legislation and codes of practice relating to this matter.