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Applied:Programming and discovery

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Each card carries an evidence label. What this means

Conceptual paper collage of repeating calendar shapes beside two differently scaled groups of cinema seats; not Alliance Française material.
Practical IdeaObserved
Programming and discovery

Make a regular screening slot easy for families to remember

Alliance Française de Bangui advertises sixteen Saturday screenings from 10 October to 28 November 2026: Kété Ciné for children at 14:00 and an adult session at 16:00, in partnership with IFcinéma.

Central African Republic
Read the briefing
Conceptual paper collage of several small cinema facades along a coastline connected by a winding film strip; not a depiction of actual venues or of the documentary.
Practical IdeaObserved
Programming and discovery

Give a local documentary a coordinated journey across cinemas

Chile’s Red de Salas de Cine coordinates screenings of the documentary “Vuelvo donde nunca estuve” across member cinemas from 8 October 2026, with filmmaker or participant discussions at selected venues.

Chile
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Conceptual paper collage of a central film frame linked by orange lines to smaller film cards and blank shared campaign sheets; not access>CINEMA material.
Practical IdeaObserved
Programming and discovery

Give local exhibitors a shared audience-development campaign

access>CINEMA’s New Audience Initiative supports one film a quarter with a central marketing kit, tailored social assets and local marketing funding that participating venues can apply for.

Ireland
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Conceptual paper collage of young adults arranging film-frame cards around a table, with several different small cinema doorways behind them; not a photograph of the Paris cinemas.
Practical IdeaObserved
Programming and discovery

Let young audiences programme and host a cinema circuit

Students help create and host a season across ten independent cinemas, combining films with opportunities to meet, take part and learn.

France
Read the briefing
Conceptual paper collage of a blank orange ticket and a simple clock with a quarter segment highlighted above a relaxed viewer in a cinema seat; not Palace artwork.
Practical IdeaObserved
Programming and discovery

Make unfamiliar films feel less risky for members

Palace’s member guarantee allows a refund request within the first 30 minutes. Clear eligibility and a simple staff process are central to the idea.

Australia
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Editorial collage of a film frame, a blank card and a small cinema outline linked by torn paper, suggesting a route from discovery to a screening.
Practical IdeaEvidence limited
Programming and discovery

Test a route from film discovery to community exhibition

WiC, introduced at Durban FilmMart, proposes to connect film discovery, ticket acquisition, venues and audience intelligence for African cinema. It is an announced proposition with a narrower near-term rollout, but it raises a useful question: can interest in a film be carried through to a local paid screening?

South Africa
Read the briefing

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Conceptual collage: two torn photo fragments, one of an audience facing a blank cinema screen and one of the same group talking in a circle of chairs under an orange speech bubble. An illustration, not a photograph of the actual event.
Practical IdeaObserved
Programming and discovery

Pair each film in a short programme with a conversation

Cinema Akil's BLACKBIRD, 25–27 September 2026 in Dubai, was a three-day curated programme in which each film was followed by an online Q&A or an open community conversation. The programme design is documented; audience and commercial outcomes are not reported.

United Arab Emirates
Read the briefing
Illustration of a programmer's logbook with ticked and crossed film titles and a phone icon marking distributor contact.
Measurement GuideHistorical
Programming and discovery

Log booking decisions to see where films get lost

NICE's Ontario study logged 238 booking decisions on Canadian films. Where a distributor made contact, 19 of 59 decisions ended in a booking (32%), against 7 of 137 without outreach (5%) — an association, not proof of cause.

Canada
Read the briefing
Illustration of three evening tickets joined into one pass, with older adults talking after a screening.
Practical IdeaObserved
Programming and discovery

Package a three-evening senior cinema series

Greater Cleveland Urban Film Festival's Senior Cinema Experience ran 22–24 September 2026 at a civic and senior centre: eight films over three evenings, $15 a night or $35 for all three.

United States
Read the briefing
Illustration of a festival star banner over a Kumasi cinema entrance, with a filmmaker roadmap booklet and discussion stage.
Practical IdeaObserved
Programming and discovery

Take a festival to a new city cinema

Black Star International Film Festival held its first Kumasi edition at Golden Eagle Cinemas on 24–27 September 2026, combining screenings with industry conversations, mentoring and a filmmaker roadmap launch.

Ghana
Read the briefing
Illustration of a classic cinema facade with six themed club banners and a discussion panel under the screen.
Practical IdeaHistorical
Programming and discovery

Programme free themed film clubs with discussion

Cairo's Qasr El Cinema, part of Egypt's General Authority for Cultural Palaces, runs free themed film clubs at 8pm — world, European, Asian, classic, animation and novel-to-film strands — some followed by critics' discussions.

Egypt
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Illustration of a film case travelling between three city skylines, each with a lit opening-night marquee.
Practical IdeaObserved
Programming and discovery

Run a touring festival through local host teams

Lebanon Cinema Days' tenth Canadian edition ran 17–28 September 2026 across Montréal, Ottawa and the Greater Toronto Area, with 13 features and 44 shorts, city opening nights and a ticket-funded model.

Canada
Read the briefing
Illustration of a weekly showtime grid with a cluster of evening slots and a caution sign reading supply not demand.
Measurement GuideReach
Programming and discovery

Benchmark your showtimes without mistaking supply for demand

FilmGrail analysed 6,163 public showtimes at 140 independent cinemas for 24–30 September 2026. It describes what cinemas offered, not what audiences chose, and the sample leans heavily to North America and one booking platform.

International
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Conceptual collage: an audience on folding chairs facing a blank projection screen against an orange torn-paper shape, surrounded by fragments of a hall, shopfront, church and school, suggesting cinema reaching community spaces. An illustration, not a photograph of a screening.
Practical IdeaObserved
Programming and discovery

Taking a festival beyond its own venues

Resistimos, a Mexican documentary festival with IMCINE, moves from free city screenings to authorised screenings by self-managed cineclubs and cultural spaces, then a free online window.

Mexico
Read the briefing
Conceptual collage: a hand filing a blank cream card into an orange card box beside a stack of cards, with red cinema seats behind, suggesting audience feedback kept in order. Not a photograph of the venue.
Practical IdeaObserved
Programming and discovery

A simple way to remember what your audience thought

Stockbridge Community Cinema publishes a film-by-film archive of attendance and audience ratings, giving a small volunteer venue a consistent record of what its audience liked.

United Kingdom
Read the briefing
Cinemas in Action editorial graphic for A Greener Screen, Chichester in United Kingdom.
Case StudyObserved
Programming and discovery

Connect environmental programming to local action

Chichester’s A Greener Screen activity connects films with local groups, talks and age-specific workshops. The programme design is visible, but no attendance or behaviour-change results are published.

United Kingdom
Read the briefing
Cinemas in Action editorial graphic for Small Cinema Collection in South Korea.
Case StudyObserved
Programming and discovery

Make small cinemas part of a national cultural programme

The Korean Film Council’s Small Cinema Collection uses a national free programme to support local cinema activity. It shows a distribution model, but costs, attendance and venue-level effects are unavailable.

South Korea
Read the briefing
Cinemas in Action editorial graphic for IFTA, Regal/Cineworld and CNC neutral-programmer pilot in United States.
Case StudyObserved
Programming and discovery

Test idle screens with a neutral programmer

Regal/Cineworld, IFTA and CNC announced a pilot using a neutral programmer to place films into otherwise-idle screen capacity. It is an observed test design with no published results yet.

United States
Read the briefing
Cinemas in Action editorial graphic for CGV COD-7 audience-choice programme in South Korea.
Case StudyObserved
Programming and discovery

Turn audience votes into paid demand tests

CGV’s COD-7 programme invites audiences to vote for titles, then moves selected films toward booking. The useful step is converting preference into paid demand rather than treating a vote as proof of attendance.

South Korea
Read the briefing
Case StudyReach
Programming and discovery

A festival should not disappear for eleven months

Watch Africa pairs an annual African film festival in Wales with monthly screenings and a free members' club. The point is not the extra screenings. It is that the audience, the partners and the mailing list stay warm, so each edition starts from a community rather than from zero.

United Kingdom
Read the briefing
Case StudyAudience results
Programming and discovery

Kinepolis turns coming-soon trailers into an interactive cinema event

Since 2019 Kinepolis has sold tickets to a trailer show. Audiences rate each forthcoming film on their phones, the ticket money goes to charity, and the circuit ends the evening with a declared preference attached to an identified customer.

Belgium
Read the briefing
Case StudyReach
Programming and discovery

A festival does not have to end when the festival ends

Cinema Rediscovered spends months securing prints, rights and context for a five-day festival in Bristol, then sends the result out as a touring package other cinemas can book. The 2025 festival drew 5,331 ticketed admissions and its touring programme added over 8,000 more across 50-plus partner venues.

United Kingdom
Read the briefing
Practical IdeaObserved
Programming and discovery

School screenings are a product, not just a group discount

Village Cine School packages film selection, teacher guides, booking administration, price and post-film discussion time. The discount is the least interesting part of the offer.

Greece
Read the briefing
A network connecting films and facilitation with cinemas, libraries, community organisations and local hosts.
Practical IdeaEvidence limited
Programming and discovery

Let community hosts deliver one shared film-and-conversation programme

The Better Together Film Festival supplies eight films and a shared purpose to local hosts including cinemas, libraries, faith groups, breweries and community spaces.

United States
Read the briefing
Three cards showing a local short, a feature film and a programming partner.
Practical IdeaObserved
Programming and discovery

Use outdoor features to give local short films an audience

Palma’s free outdoor season pairs several feature films with shorts by emerging Balearic filmmakers, placing local work in front of a larger general audience.

Spain
Read the briefing
Three cards showing a cleared film programme, access assets and a portable host toolkit.
Case StudyObserved
Programming and discovery

Package a specialist festival so it can travel

Cinema Touching Disability reused a proven short-film programme for its first Houston edition and offers past line-ups for collaborative screenings throughout the year.

United States
Read the briefing
A network of cinema icons connected around the date 30 July 2026.
Practical IdeaEvidence limited
Programming and discovery

Create a shared cinema day without losing local identity

Art House Theater Day gives participating cinemas a common date, film slate, campaign identity, map, ambassador and additional materials while leaving local delivery with each venue. The 2026 event is scheduled for 30 July, so current results are not yet available.

United States and Canada
Read the briefing
A four-step campaign diagram showing Vote, Book, Spend and Return.
Practical IdeaEvidence limited
Programming and discovery

Turn an anniversary into a return-visit campaign

Cineworld’s 30th-anniversary campaign links audience voting, repertory programming, channel-based ticket pricing, a concession-spend trigger and a later reward-redemption window. The mechanics are visible; their incremental commercial effect is not.

United Kingdom
Read the briefing