The Shape of Cinema in a Pandemic World

I began 2020 heading towards the final preparations of what was to be my most ambitious curatorial project to date. In the year of the Tokyo Olympics, I was aiming to present a programme of moving image works from Japan exploring the relationship between architecture and cinema, in cultural venues around the UK. The very premise of the project was to explore the interactions between humans and the built and natural environments. Little was I know to how this project would take on a whole new significance only a few weeks later.

I work across film exhibition, film distribution and access for the arts – principally the creation of subtitles and audio-description as well as translation. I’m both a freelancer and limited company director. In essence, my work is reliant on two elements: films being made and films being seen – people coming together on set and collective viewing in the auditorium.

My first festival trip of the year at International Film Festival Rotterdam saw all the usual gatherings in film theatres and evening drinks, and my first occasion of the year to meet up with colleagues from around the world. Amid all these gatherings there was little palpable apprehension. I then returned to Tokyo to wrap up my project ready to launch in the UK in June. I instantly found myself living everything several steps ahead of the UK. I could see what was happening within the film exhibition sector in Japan, as filmmakers were rallying support for independent cinemas while theatrical audiences were rapidly diminishing. At a meeting with two producers at Japanese national broadcaster NHK to discuss screenings of a film as part of the project, the reality suddenly dawned on me, as we all sat socially distanced from each other in face masks. This was early March and I then realised it was impossible to even consider 6 months of a touring programme going from venue to venue around the UK. I couldn’t travel to complete the last stages of planning the project in readiness for bringing this work back to the UK, and then the funding streams I’d applied for were redirected so no longer available. The debate as to whether the Olympics would go ahead was rumbling, while my project hinged on the eagerly awaited games. Press pause.

Closely following developments at home, it was not long before lockdown came into effect in the UK. Working internationally much of the time, bringing films mostly from Asia to the UK, I had already started to feel the effects of dwindling work levels. And then as cinemas started closing – like so many others in the creative industries in the UK dependent on venues – my work at the other end of the spectrum also evaporated. I had anticipated in the region of +100 screenings as part of this project, the film festival I run and two planned theatrical releases for the latter half of the year – all shelved overnight. I know this echoes the experiences of so many across the creative industries this year.

When the Chancellor made his announcements later in March on the Covid-19 financial support schemes, first about CJRS, then SEISS, I soon realised that I was going to be among those excluded from meaningful support, and I set about every bit of political lobbying I could engage in. Having been involved in cultural activism in the past through working with documentary in particular, that experience served me well in crafting the messaging and seeking to reach the right people. I soon came together with three other individuals who were also excluded, although all of us from different industries. ExcludedUK was born – out of a desire to present the full scale of the issue and advocate for the many individuals and businesses excluded across the schemes. A grassroots volunteer run organisation, we set up as a Community Interest Company (CIC), feeling that this was the most appropriate structure for what ExcludedUK stands for, anticipating that we could be in it for the long haul, aware that this was a battle that wasn’t going to be won easily. Our key aims are to raise awareness for the 3 million who we believe to be excluded from meaningful support (based on detailed data analysis of readily available statistics from ONS, BEIS and HMRC and cross-referenced against the Treasury Committee’s report of 15 June 2020), lobby for support and work collaboratively with other industry bodies, unions and organisations to make more ‘noise’ about the impacts of these exclusions: the ever-increasing financial hardship faced by those who are excluded, mounting debts, a growing mental health crisis, and for many, a future that is fraught with uncertainty. ExcludedUK equally exists to offer wider support – signposting towards resources on mental health, counselling and well-being, business guidance and networking, debt advice, upskilling and training.

From its origins of four founding directors and a Facebook admin team, ExcludedUK rapidly grew to a team of over 30 people, all volunteers and all affected in a variety of ways. We’re now approaching 20,000 in our Facebook group, over 14,000 on Twitter, and several thousand more across other channels and our website forum. Our work is now very much focused on the political front, with Parliament having now resumed after the summer recess. We’re launching our Lobby Weeks initiative on Friday 11 September with over 50 MPs currently signed up to take part in online group discussions with affected constituents with more anticipated, and we’ve just published our latest report (www.excludeduk.org/hubfs/ExcludedUK_Potential%20Solutions%20to%20Exclusions_08092020.pdf).

However, with so many from the arts, culture and entertainment sectors within the ExcludedUK community (from our survey data, this is the largest grouping of those affected within the community at around 30%), cultural activity is embedded in much of what we do. We launched a mental health and well-being project over the summer, #3MillionMilesUK (www.excludeduk.org/3millionmiles), encouraging people to get out and about in our collective efforts to clock up one mile for every UK taxpayer who’s been excluded – walking, running, rolling, cycling or any other form of physical movement – whilst telling our stories through written word, photos and videos. Last week saw the launch of the ExcludedUK virtual choir, in which over 100 members of our community came together virtually to sing and record a modified version of “One Day More” (Les Miserables), a project led by a singing teacher in Glasgow and a scriptwriter in London, both excluded. And plans are afoot for further community driven cultural activities to raise greater awareness, to help empower those affected and to highlight the talent within the ExcludedUK community.

As for my own work, most of it is still on pause. As cinemas begin to reopen, little trickles of subtitling and audio-description work are coming through, while my festival work has to move online for the most part at least. I’m hoping to launch my Japanese project next year, but inevitably in a different shape. It has undoubtedly been a significant moment of reflection from a creative point of view, but I would also like to think of this as an opportunity as we rethink the cinema space in more ways than one. My work has always focused on inclusivity and diversity in programming, and I hope that cinema and the arts in a post pandemic world can thrive again, while embracing diversity in all its forms as an inherent part of what we do as curators.

For more information about ExcludedUK, see www.excludeduk.org.

Sonali Joshi is a curator, writer and subtitler, Founder/Director of Day for Night Film & Visual Arts (www.day-for-night.org) and also a Bectu member. She is one of the founders of ExcludedUK and is responsible for policy and communications.