Into Film Young Reviewer, Cai attends the premiere of Showdown at Cinema & Co., Swansea and lets us know his thoughts.

Cai says – ‘Showdown tells the story of Sam, a young autistic boy, with a passion for Western films, who must decide whether to stand down or stay his ground when a showdown presents itself. To demonstrate the main character’s autism, the sound is used perfectly and practically to signal when Sam is experiencing sensory overload, with the shaky camera adding to this depiction of his autism. The camera is also used well by the filmmakers to emphasise Sam’s isolation through far away wide shots that distance him from the viewer. I was impressed by the way in which the film uses a handheld camera, adding to the film’s sense of realism.  The film’s close-up shots aid in immersing the audience in the story of the film by giving us the best view of the subtleties of the actors’ performances. 

The film’s focus on an autistic character is a refreshing perspective that is brought to life by the young actor, Charlie Lock. His performance is incredible, he captures an autistic character through no dialogue, relying only on facial expressions. Another performance that shines is Sam’s Dad, who captures the parental perspective on autism; ranging from frustration to acceptance. These performances enhance the sweet story, that appeals to both young and older audiences. Younger audiences can connect with Sam’s perspective, whilst older audiences will connect with Sam’s parents.

Showdown is set in the small Welsh town of Bedlinog, a setting which perfectly demonstrates the idyllic aspect of the Welsh countryside. I also love the emotionally raw aspect of the story, as the town is very close to the writer’s heart, having grown up there. Bedlinog also fits the film’s western colour palette and aids in enhancing the film’s western iconography.

One of my favourite aspects of the film was it’s ‘proud to be indie’ feel, it all felt very homegrown. My only critique of Showdown was the pace of the editing which really makes the film go by all too fast leaving me desiring more.’

To find out more about the film and how to book, click here.
Find out more about the Into Film Young Reporter Programme.

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2001: A space Odyssey was an interesting film and very different to the usual sci-fi film. It is based around a strange object, which is found on the moon and because of this object a group of people have to go to Jupiter.

The film doesn’t have a soundtrack and uses famous classical songs instead. This puts emphasis on the long atmospheric scenes, which wouldn’t fit or make sense in other movies. Despite the atmospheric scenes I felt that some of them went on a little bit long, but it did make you think about why a certain scene was there.

The movie ends on a bit of a cliff hanger and I felt like I left the cinema trying to figure out what happened at the end. This separates this movie from movies with a predictable plot and ending and keeps the person watching A Space Odyssey in suspense.

Overall I enjoyed this movie and would definitely recommend it despite its sometimes intricate plot.

It’s an exciting time to be working in film exhibition and programming. Programming in the United Kingdom is becoming more and more varied and diverse, from more discussions on inclusion, engagement down to more community programming.

I’ve spent the past three months working on British Film Institute’s flagship Inclusive Cinema scheme. It’s an initiative to promote equality, inclusion and diversity in the film sector. I’ve been based in Canolfan Gelfyddydol y Chapter at Film Hub Wales in Cardiff, a creative hub of the city and the largest art venue of its kind in Europe.

My time and work has been really varied at Inclusive Cinema. I’ve attended training, learned loads about areas I didn’t know about before and had the opportunity to attend screening days. I’ve enjoyed learning more about access and inclusion while in-post. One thing I’ve noticed working in the sector is how in a tighter funding climate that identities are sometimes pitched against each other. I’m proud to say that Inclusive Cinema champions an intersectional attitude and approach to working that looks at where we can join up work in new areas to ensure that nobody is left behind. Intersectionality is a framework that looks at how power impacts different groups in society to see how that power overlaps for different groups. I’m thrilled I have been able to work on information pages and highlight our shared similarities to make film exhibition and programming a better place for everyone.

A definite highlight of my time has been the events that Inclusive Cinema and Film Hub Wales has helped to deliver. In December, I was fortunate enough to give a Pecha Kucha presentation on the importance of intersectional approaches to film programming for audience development at the fantastic This Way Up Conference in Liverpool. Intersectionality is a tool for understanding the world around us, looking at power and how some groups are less likely to have power than others – or be subject to power. The next month I was in Scotland with Film Hub Scotland delivering “Agor Ein Drysau”, a day aimed at increasing the capacity of programmers and cinemas who are members of FHS. I’d never had an opportunity to programme like that and my heart soared to overhear attendees talk about new ways in which that want to make their venue more accessible for people from lower income communities.

I’ve thought about this a tremendous amount when considering exhibition and programming in the UK. Who programmes what? And for whom? And who can afford it? These are the questions that go through my head. I feel for far too long that our inability to discuss topics relating to equality and inclusion has divided us and resulted in a myth of meritocracy.

The UK is small. The sector’s even smaller. It’s time to act to both set and promote good practice in the industry to not only support exhibitors, but equality and diversity in film overall at every level including filmmakers, screenwriters etc. I’d never really understood BFI, what it did, what its remit was or how it affected the communities I come from. Now I know and I’m excited to see BFI champion equality and diversity as it goes from strength to strength. Inclusive Cinema is a step towards recognising, accepting those differences to help support the sector and I look forward to seeing it thrive.

“From this conference I realised how fast technology is moving, from ticketing apps to digital signage and poster cases, to the emergence of laser projection.

Technology is working hard to make cinema more inclusive and the closed caption technology has the ability to break down language barriers and give people more opportunity to use the welsh language.

If you are looking at upgrading your digital projectors it’s worth looking at laser projection as even though it’s a bit more expensive, there are no lamp costs, plus it can live in a small pod instead of needing well ventilated, sound proof booth.

Sometimes knowing what and when to programme films can be challenging but more and more analytics software can help ensure the correct decisions are made or at least reduce the risks”

“This was an important event for my organisation’s development as we were able to talk about diversity, identity and programming in a safe space. We had a rare opportunity to connect with BAME programmers  from other of all level and specialisms and from other parts of the UK, as well as meeting up with my peers in Wales.

It was great to get the opportunity to speak with Gina Duncan and learn about her journey and experiences of creating and what she describes as a nimble, responsive and socially engaging programme for The BAM Centre in Brooklyn New York. Gina was very good at identifying new talent to work with and working as a team. The knowledge that Gina found success curating socially engaging films and this was welcomed by BAME audiences was inspiring and encouraging.

Having worked in the industry for a very long time I am aware that it is very easy to find yourself feeling lonely and isolated in your work. BAME practitioners are often marginalised. I feel we do not have the opportunities to experiment and make mistakes which is one of the reason meetups like this are so important. In one our many conversation, the subject of making funding applications was discussed. It became clear there need of an ecosystem of mentoring for new applications to come through the system.”

“The Cinema for All Annual Conference was a first for us, as a new film society. It was a great way to meet fellow cinema enthusiasts, gain new knowledge, celebrate all the hard work that community cinema volunteers do and most importantly it provided us with real encouragement and support which is essential for any fledgling group who are finding their feet.

Being immersed in all things cinema for a whole weekend gave us time to really reflect on what we’re doing, how we’re doing it and how we could learn and improve. We bought back lots of ideas, particularly in relation to programming, which was a word we kept hearing but one that we’d never even used ourselves. We are now going to work out how we might develop an annual programme rather than just thinking a couple of months ahead which will ensure that we not only cater better for our diverse audience but that we provide them with the ability to plan ahead and think about which films they want to attend throughout the year.

We were really inspired by the different approaches that other clubs take, some were all about providing less frequent but very special immersive experiences, others catered for niche audiences and some were simply passionate about providing a platform for independent film makers as an alternative to mainstream cinema. I think we are a little bit of all these, but our main driver is about providing a social opportunity in a dispersed rural community that doesn’t have easy access to many other services – maybe this is something they could cover in future events.

Fortunately, through social media, we can now stay in touch with some of the great film societies we connected with and keep an eye on the ideas and programming that they’re doing. We hadn’t really looked further afield until now so I think this will really benefit us when determining our own programme and events.”

“Attending the ICO Screenings Days at the BFI Southbank was an amazing opportunity to participate in. I was part of another event in which we met other young people who also run their own cinemas, whether part of a university programme or just for the community, which was beneficial to my understanding of how to run a successfully programmed event. This being very useful as I volunteer to run a pop-up cinema which aims to offer an affordable and fun experience for the community. The sessions were very engaging and allowed us to express our ideas with one another, allowing us to create a discussion which was very informative. It also brought attention as to how important it is for us young people to have voices as we also have ideas on events which will be successful, and appeal to a wide range of audience members.

Not only did we attend the sessions regarding the exhibition of films, we were also given the opportunity to watch films in the ICO Screening Days. With a wide range of diversity within the film choices, the event was appealing to many different audiences, allowing us to make choices as to which style/genre of film we wanted to watch. Both myself and another volunteer from our pop-cinema/film festival tried to watch a wide range of films, this consisting of short films, documentaries and full-length feature films.

The whole experience of attending the ICO screening days was amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed watching and discussing films, learning new ways to attract a wider audience and create programmes with more diverse film choices”.

“This Way Up was a really great experience for myself and my organisation. It was a really inspirational 2 days with great speakers and panels. It’s the first time I have attended a This Way Up event and unsure how much I was going to take away from the event.  As it turned out it was hard to know what to choose to go along to once it got started as there was so much that was relevant to our charity. I took pages of notes from some sessions and refer back to them still on a regular basis. The 2 days have influenced change in my organisation from the new business plan to decisions on flooring!  Was really useful to hear the similarities and differences in people’s experiences during and outside of the sessions as well.  I would definitely recommend attending to anyone thinking of going along to the next event.”

“Headline figures can disguise a wide variation in the performance of venues – an average of 51 people per show. One fascinating finding is that there is no correlation between the size of a community and the size of audience attracted by its community cinema.  A wide range of other critical success factors are in play.”