Watershed's Conversations About Cinema Project

1. Film – the start of a conversation… #convocinema
'Powerful, intense. A requirement of being human’ Night Will Fall
Audience Comment
Conversations About Cinema, started as monthly partnership strand
between independent venue (Watershed, Bristol, UK) with Bristol
University in 2014. It has gone from strength to strength with intros,
informal chats in the bar and online publishing around titles such as Night
Will Fall and Concerning Violence. Au Revoir Les Enfants presented
as part of the strand achieved 95% capacity with 386 admits at Watershed
over 7 days (six sold-out screenings. )

5. it works because it’s simple.
audience led – cinemas are after all places where people
come together to experience film. We’ve just created an
open space for them to share their thoughts on and offline.
A collective + sustainable + multipliable approach –bringing
independent cinemas together to get behind a menu of new
releases that fit a universal theme: IMPACT OF CONFLICT.
It taps into regional eco-systems, networks and audiences.

6. Region specific Programming – diverse film events around the theme
Cross Hub Moments around a collective menu of films across 3 hub regions
Jan - March 2015: RnD (incl. small scale trials: Au Revoir Les Enfants,
Selma, Maidan, Testament of Youth, Last of the Unjust)
April - July 2015: The Decent One (April), Timbuktu (May), The Look of
Silence (June) Salt of The Earth (July)
August 2015: External evaluation Delivery
6 months of audience facing activity
Projected admits: 12K +
£140K budget incl. £70K (BFI PDF Fund)

8. Lead Partners:
-Watershed +
Bristol University
(South West & West
Midlands
-Chapter (Cardiff,
Wales)
-QFT (Belfast,
Northern Ireland)
+ More than 25
organisations
(cultural, social,
academic, political)
with over 60 films
and close to 50
special guests and
speakers
+ Distributors
Watershed
Chapter
QFT

9. TWEET– Just use #convocinema and we’ll be listening. You can also follow the main
twitter feed @ConvoCinema for all the conversation updates
WRITE – Need more than 140 characters? Post a comment on
conversationsaboutcinema.co.uk or send us an email
SHARE – If you want to share, there’s buttons at the bottom of each piece of
conversation content to share to Facebook, Twitter, Google + and via Email.
SHARE FURTHER – If you want to share the content on your own website, blog or
news feed, then just get in touch and we’d be happy to help or visit our YouTube
Channel.
CREATE YOUR OWN EVENTS – If you’re showing any of the films presented or are
interested in getting your audiences involved, you can use the branding & create
content.
POST IT ON A NOTICEBOARD – If you visit one of our main project venues; you can
post your thoughts on a dedicated noticeboard.

11. Selma Survey monkey - Audience feedback, Bristol – further
analysis to follow:
226 responses / Watershed Admits: 3880
53% of respondents attended a Convocinema event in the bar
Also see vox pops, twitter chat and noticeboard cards
Question: how did it make you feel?
“Sad. It took me back in time. I remember seeing things in the news as a child and later
- events like these help form my sense of social injustice.”
“Humble. We discussed afterwards if we would have the necessary bravery if ever
challenged in similar ways.”
On extra content:
“The various opportunities recently provided to reflect on, interact with others to share
and exchange our experiences of certain are very welcome.”

12. PRESS COVERAGE included:
Methodist Recorder (Main) 27 February 2015

14. Annemarie Jacir #WhenISawYou
#convocinema @wshed

15. Simultaneous Facebook Ads across 3 sites:
304 Likes / 33 Shares / 17 comments

16. “Just to re-iterate that this is fantastic! Our next release is SUFFRAGETTE
(due for an Autumn release) and it seems like it would be a perfect title
for ‘Conversations About Cinema’” Chris Besseling, Pathe UK
Film Matters… to capture and share some of the impact of
cultural film exhibition can have on individuals, communities and
society as a whole.
Business of Culture… to develop the access to diverse films
outside London + create the demand from the ground up; amplify
audiences’ interest and engagement + impact on the sector’s
confidence in taking cultural “risks”.
Sustained and New relationships… with audiences, partner
exhibitors, the wider BFI Film Audience network, distributors,
filmmakers:
Impact of Project – work in progress

17. What is working / not working will be shared (August):
-Cross Hub partnership working
-Overarching brand / Impact of Conflict theme & the depth of audience engagement Cross
Hub Marketing / Communications strategy
-Collective conversations / Contextualisation online – audience & exhibitor engagement
depth of engagement highlighting impact and audience reactions
-Wider impact on sector & legacy (exhibition, distribution, production)

18. Europa Distribution blog

19. “I describe it as: we are in the business of culture, not the culture of
business. It’s got to work as a business model, otherwise we wouldn’t
exist. But we must never allow that to cloud our cultural remit.” Mark
Cosgrove (Watershed Cinema Curato, April ‘15 Sight & Sound
watershed.co.uk
conversationsaboutcinema.co.uk
@convocinema
#convocinema