Séza Magdalena Eccles (Screen at Hay Publicity & Promotions Officer); Derek Malcolm (Guardian Film Critic & President BFFS) Jo Eliot (Screen at Hay Chair) & Julieanne Crothers-Gibson (BFFS Chair).
The Screen at Hay's newly formed society recieved a coveted Film Society at The BFFS Awards in Sheffield, September 2008 Guardian Film Critic and BFFS President Derek Malcolm praised the Screen at Hay for their excellent film programming, extensive partnerships and strong commitment to audience development - this new society is an all-round inspirational model - and is keeping our UK societies on their toes.
Each year BFFS rewards excellence in the vital work that the film societies do in cultural and community cinema. The Film Society of the Year Awards are vitally important in acieving recognition for the matchless work of dedicated film devotees, all of whom work for their film societies entirely voluntarily to bring high-quality cinema to their local communities through out the country.
The Screen at Hay were praised for thier contribution in offering increased access and diversity of films available in the more remote regions of the country.
"Hay-on-Wye, famous as the second-hand book capital of Europe, did have a thriving cinema" said Jo Elliot, Chair of The Screen at Hay, "but as with all the rest of the available space in Hay, it was turned into a bookshop! With the advent of The Screen at Hay, our local community can now have it's cinema back."
About The BFFS (British Federation of Film Societies)
BFFS is the national support and development agency for the film society and community cinema sector. Its 300+ member organisations across the UK represent a membership of over 29,000 people. BFFS prime funder is the UK Film Council. BFFS members screen about 3,000 films per year of over 500 different titles to a combined total audience of almost half a million. BFFS has supported specialised (art-house) cinema exhibition in the voluntary sector since its inception over 60 years ago and today continues to provide advice, technical support and education opportunities to communities across the UK. Each year BFFS hosts the UK Film Society of the Year Awards, recognising excellence in all aspects of film society and community cinema endeavours.
BFFS extends a diversity of viewing choice critical within the UK cultural economy and offers increased opportunities for access and diversity in more remote regions of the country where access to any sort of cinema is restricted, but also in metropolitan areas with no alternative to mainstream titles. Community exhibitors have a strong history of bringing to audiences those films not on general commercial release and in this way have provided national exposure for many minority interest and foreign language films. Many recent specialised films made here and abroad owe much of their exhibition opportunities in Britain to film societies and community cinemas.
The Screen at Hay's newly formed society recieved a coveted Film Society at The BFFS Awards in Sheffield, September 2008 Guardian Film Critic and BFFS President Derek Malcolm praised the Screen at Hay for their excellent film programming, extensive partnerships and strong commitment to audience development - this new society is an all-round inspirational model - and is keeping our UK societies on their toes.