See, think, make and imagine with Into Film

DCM Close Up is delighted to be supporting the Into Film Festival this November, along with many UK cinemas. There is still time for more cinema sites to support this great cause that takes film and cinema out into the heartland of the community through its various youth programmes. This week DCM Close Up would like to share with you a little background on the organisation and the work it carries out. Into Film is a charity that puts film at the heart of the educational and personal development of children and young people aged 5-19 across the UK. The organisation was born from the legacy of two leading film education charities, FILMCLUB and First Light.

Both organisations had considerable experience in delivering film-based programmes of significant scale and reach to children and young people across the UK. You may remember Sam Wilson, Into Film's Audience Development Manager and Artistic Director, who gave us an overview at the CEA meetings earlier this year.

From a catalogue of over 4,000 age-appropriate films to the annual UK-wide Into Film Festival and year-round programme of cinema-based screenings and events, Into Film now gives children and young people the chance to explore and develop their understanding of film. Watching films in the communal environment of their clubs or enjoying the wonder of the big screen at the cinema, the charity helps young people experiment with different genres, eras and styles and in doing so develop a lifelong relationship with film. The charity believes that watching films plays a key role in helping young people examine their lives and the world around them, and discover cultures beyond their own.

Into Film also maintains that filmmaking is an accessible and highly effective medium for engaging young minds, developing creativity and enriching understanding of film through active participation. By bringing children and young people together with a common purpose, it is proven to make a valuable contribution to social development and learning essential life skills. Through outreach projects, competitions, training, online resources and interactions with filmmaking professionals, the charity provides the support required to facilitate filmmaking. Whether it's a film for a school project or a young person wanting to pursue a career as a filmmaker, Into Film offers the guidance to enable them to tell and share their story.

The charity works with hundreds of partners, ranging from large national organisations to small community-based groups that work directly with young people, including BAFTA, the BFI, Cinema First, The Industry Trust and the National Schools Partnership, to name a few.

Last year their event ran between 21 October and 8 November, with many of DCM's partners involved, including The Aros Experience, Letchworth Broadway, Derby QUAD, Eden Court Theatre, Iveagh Movie Studios, Stirling Macrobert Centre, The Maltings Theatre & Cinema, Tyneside Cinema and Warwick Arts Centre.

Into Film also conducted 41 autism-friendly screenings last year, and will be going much wider this year in partnership with Dimensions and the National Autistic Society. 

To find out more about Into Film’s upcoming programme and what’s happening in your region, visit their website at: http://www.intofilm.org/. If you are an exhibitor interested in supporting Into Film by making your cinema a part of the Into Film Festival, which takes place 2-21 November, please email Sam Wilson, Artistic Director of the Into Film Festival at sam.wilson@intofilm.org.