We are very excited to announce that Good Screenings launches today with a piece in the Guardian newspaper .
The Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation has joined forces with director Franny Armstrong (The Age of Stupid, McLibel), to launch Good Screenings - a new film distribution website, which allows anyone, anywhere to hold their own screening of the best social justice documentary films and, crucially, to keep the profits for their own campaign or pocket.
Good Screenings goes live with an outstanding slate of award-winning films including Foundation films like The End of the Line, The Yes Men Fix the World, Moving to Mars and Chosen plus other great films including Heavy Load and ‘Peace One Day and Franny Armstrong’s own McLibel. More titles will be added month by month.
Using the website’s simple booking system, anyone can buy a licence to screen in their school, church, workplace, museum, scout hut or wherever. The license fee is calculated according to who they are, where they plan to screen and how many viewers they’re expecting. ‘The Age of Stupid’ team pioneered this new method of film distribution in 2009 and realized they were on to a winner when more than 1300 screenings were booked in the first six months - generating more than £100,000 for the film’s “crowd-funders” and many thousands more for numerous campaigns. The film played in NHS wards, church halls, in fields and even at a garden centre (the first film ever screened there).
Franny Armstrong says “Too many fantastic documentaries end up on the filmmaker’s shelf as distributors don’t think there’s money to be made in saving the world. Good Screenings means that good films can be seen by good people and hopefully inspire lots of good action. It’s a win win win.”
And we agree.
After the filmmakers receive their revenues, profits from Good Screenings will go into a brand new international production fund for social justice documentaries administered by the Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation.
Please help us make this initiative a success by passing on info about the site to people and organisations who might want to book screenings.
And join our Facebook Group so you can hear about new films being released.