UK Indymedia

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

IMC UK Cinema, Screening and Distribution

The best way to see radical video is LIVE with REAL people. Instead of sitting by yourself in front of a box, you can talk to other people about what you've seen and discuss actions that could be taken together. Indymedia Cinema is an ongoing showcase of contemporary filmmakers who are finding new forms of cinema to inform and inspire people on the issues of globalisation, environmental destruction, social change and justice. There are Indymedia Video Groups throughout the world that make and share films/documentaries/shorts. Come along to one of the screenings or look through the resources and organise your own!

Regular screening: London | Leeds | Bristol | Nottingham |

This page can not provide a comprihensive list of screenings and just aims to list regular events. See your local IMC or social centre for information about other screenings that are being organised.

London

The rampART creative centre and social space in Rampart Street, East London put on regular cinema nights. They may be themed to a specific issue and overtly political or they may just be showing the latest blockbuster with seemingly random shorts of actions etc off the newswire. The rampART has a dedicate space for cinema which seats about two dozen, as well as a much larger space that can be used when larger audiences are likely. You are welcome to get involved organising screenings. Currently there is a screening every Thursday from 8pm.
Inn On The Green. Indymedia London are currently organising monthly screenings at this East London venue. Look out for information on the London Indymedia site.
LARC is used as a venue for screenings fairly regularly. London Rising Tide for example, organise a monthly film night.

Leeds

The Common Place,has a Cinema collective that organises film screenings and talks every other Sunday in the social centre. Entry is by suggested donation of at least £2 (which includes membership of the Common Place for non-members) - all donations help us keep the social centre open to the local community.

Bristol

The Cube Microplex, is the venue for Indymedia films and discussion once a month. The address is Dove Street South (off Jamaica Street), Bristol BS2 8JD. Those attending are asked for a £3 donation (£2unwaged) but nobody is turned away through lack of fundage.

Nottingham

At the Sumac Centre, 245 Gladstone Street, Forest Fields, Nottingham, NG7 6HX, 0845 458 9595 hosts the SCROAT (Simple Cinema Run on Alternative Themes), an open cinema that shows radical and alternative films and documentaries. We hope to spread information and stimulate debate. Bar open and hot food from 7.30pm. * Submissions and suggestions of films are welcome. * Donations for the cinema and food are put back into the cinema. * SCROAT is run by volunteers and help is always welcome and needed! * Every wednesday. See the Notts Indymedia website for more info.

Organise a screening

If there are no screenings happening in your area then perhaps you would like to organise your own. Screenings are extrememly powerful, they inform and inspire and help to bring new people into active participation in progressive struggles. Get together with a few friends, find a venue and put on a film screening. Possible venues include independent cinemas, community centres, squat projects, sympathetic pubs etc. There are no shortage of videos available (see below) and with the European NewsReal coming out every month, you can be bang up-to-date.

There are a couple of online guides you might find useful if planning a screening;

Obtaining Videos To Screen

Buying videos

Some UK Indymedia groups have videos for sale. UK Indymedia might still have one or two copies of Praha Rebel Colours from the Anti-IMF / World Bank S26 protests in Prague (2000) and Genoa Red Zone from the Anti-G8 protests in genoa Italy in 2001. Slightly more recently there was a video made about the 2003 DSEi arms fare protests called 'Indefensible'.

There was a lot of video work at the 2005 G8 in scotland and many screening quality video were uploaded and put onto a daily DVD to video activists and screeners. These DVD's are now available from your local IMC and generally sold at cost or to raise funds.

One of the best places to buy radical feature length films and documentaries in the UK is CultureShop which was set up specifically to distribute activist video and has a growing sellection which can be ordered online.

Most of the organised video activist collectives also distribute and sell their own videos. Undercurrents for example have a back catalogue of their famous 1990's video magazines, as well as some more recent features such as Globalisation and the Media. Real2Reel can also supply compilations of their activist news shorts on VCD or DVD. Check out the websites of other video groups listed on the video projects page to see if they have videos to sell.

Downloading videos

Check out the IMC newswires for the latest videos.

If you have trouble playing a downloaded or streaming video, check out this VideoFAQ.

Most videos on Indymedia UK are under 20MB in size and heavily compresed, so if you are seeking higher quality versions for screening you may need to look elsewhere. Check out the following online video archives which host radical video...

The Indymedia Video Distribution Network concentrates on screening quality version.
Clearer Channel, is a new UK based online video resource intended to make finding screenable videos much easier. It is currently under development and expanding fast.
V2V video syndication This site contains video encoded using VP3 and requires peer2peer filesharing clients to download anything. It's a bit geeky.
New Global Vision An archive of finished films mostly stored as MPEG1 or DivX. They also make and distribute CD compilations of the videos uploaded.
Internet Movie Archive As well as having an archive of public domain stuff like 50's black and white adverts and public education/government propaganda films, they also have recent activist stuff but mostly american.
Lulop.com - activism catagory independent spot news video coverage - mostly celebrity shit but you will find some activist and campaign material.
BeyondTV a UK based project with connections to Undercurrents and Indymedia. It provides a database of videos, projects, and events, etc

Playing videos and trouble shooting

Once you've got hold of your videos you need to be able to play them but it's not as easy as it should be. If it's a DVD then obviously you can use a DVD player or a computer with a DVD-ROM and suitable software. Likewise, a VCD or SVCD can be played in most DVD players and computers. CDs or DVDs containing MPEG4, DIVX or XVID etc can be played in and increasing number of DVD players which is really handy.

Films you have downloaded will come in a variety of formats and you may find that you need to download and install additional codecs in order to play them. If you have trouble then do yourself a favor and download and install VideoLan (VLC). It is a free player that will handle most file types and is available for windows, osx and linux etc. Make sure you have all the common codecs installed; divx, xvid, 3ivx, theora, vp3 etc

Check out this page on videohelp.com for advice on playing different videos in different situations.

Have you been making videos?

To make contact with other videographers or groups or to get advice on shooting, editting, encoding and uploading, check out the IMC UK VIDEO projects page.

, 13.02.2006 15:15