Brighton Fringe & LGBTQ+ film screenings extended

Good news at the weekend as Brighton Fringe announced the extension of the festive period for some of its shows up to and including 10 July. The internationally-acclaimed Iris Prize Film Festival is also carrying on its streamings at a cinema in the seafront Electric Arcade, in collaboration with the Warren.

At a reception at the Arcade Berwyn Rowlands, Iris director told Scene : “It’s been a hard 18 months with cinemas largely closed, but the silver lining of the lockdowns has been the growth of online content and virtual audiences”. He revealed a huge increase to 80,000 of the virtual audience numbers for the Festival’s 2020 online event .

He also praised Channel 4’s hook-up to the festival through its digital platform all4 – where many of last year’s Iris films can still be seen.

All4 hasn’t yet announced audience figures but Hove-based Tim Highsted, senior editor, Acquired Feature Films at the channel told Scene:” this is the first year of a 3- year deal with Iris and we look forward to our future collaboration. Hopefully the industry will bounce back.

Let’s not forget to support the independent cinemas who are still operating and offering an array of distinctive programming”.