Film Hub Midlands' Spotlight initiative facilitates and champions film activity in areas where there is a lack of provision, building ambition, expertise and infrastructure over three-year projects. Our current project (2026-29) covers Ashfield, Mansfield, Bolsover, and Chesterfield.
These four East Midlands districts share a rich coalfield heritage and strong community networks, with plenty of opportunities to bring film to more local audiences. Working directly with local organisations, we’ll help exhibitors build on existing activity and develop new screenings and events. We’ll support local film champions and provide venues with access to equipment, funding and training.
We’re excited to see libraries and community spaces transformed into cinemas for screenings of all shapes and sizes - from features, shorts and documentaries to artists’ moving image, archive discoveries and animated adventures for children. Above all, we want to help build something that lasts: a network of confident local organisers and welcoming places to watch films, shaped by the communities who live here.
About Our Partners
"Spotlight has the potential to make a real difference in Mansfield by helping organisations like ours build on the work that is already happening and give it greater stability, ambition and reach. For MTFF, that means growing the festival sustainably, creating more year-round opportunities for audiences and filmmakers, and strengthening pathways into film culture for working-class people who might otherwise feel excluded from it. Over the next few years, I hope Spotlight helps Mansfield become recognised not just as somewhere that hosts cultural activity, but as a place where bold, distinctive film culture is genuinely being built."
- Jay Martin, Festival Director & Chair of Trustees, Mansfield Town Film Festival
If you’re reading this from Ashfield, Mansfield, Bolsover or Chesterfield and and fancy putting on film events near you, get in touch at hello@filmhubmidlands.org
Previous Spotlight Projects
Spotlight on Staffordshire
2023-2026
CineCov
2021-2022
Wherever you are in the Midlands, we can help you develop a connected, thriving film scene in your local area. If you think Spotlight should come to you next, get in touch with us at hello@filmhubmidlands.org
About Spotlight
Spotlight on Heartlands is the latest in a series of interventions carried out by Flatpack in their work as co-lead of Film Hub Midlands together with Broadway Cinema in Nottingham. Since 2018, the hub has championed and facilitated film activity in key areas where there is a significant lack of provision, building ambition, expertise and infrastructure.
In 2023, this work inspired a UK-wide initiative led by BFI Film Audience Network investing in culturally underserved communities across eight local areas. Spotlight has gone national!
Next, the world…
Spotlight on Heartlands has been made possible with support from Film Hub Midlands (and Flatpack Projects) through funds from the National Lottery. Film Hub Midlands support people to watch, show, and make films in the Midlands.