[Commlist] Collaborative Doctorate: The Role of Independent Cinema in the Age of On-Demand Culture

Andrew Spicer is delighted to say that UWE Bristol in collaboration with 
Exeter University and Watershed Cultural Cinema is offering a 
fully-funded, co-supervised collaborative doctorate *– /The Role of 
Independent Cinema in the Age of On-Demand Culture/*/– /as part of the 
South West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership.

Full details of the CDA and how to apply can be found here: 
https://www.sww-ahdtp.ac.uk/prospective-students/apply/ 
<https://www.sww-ahdtp.ac.uk/prospective-students/apply/>. Applications 
must be in by 23.59 on *16 January 2023. *

Interested applicants who wish to have an informal discussion should 
contact Professor Andrew Spicer: (andrew2.spicer /at/ uwe.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(andrew2.spicer /at/ uwe.ac.uk)>

Summary given below:

*Subject*

Over the last decade, independent cinema exhibition has faced major 
challenges stemming from transformations in the ways in which films are 
distributed, exhibited and consumed, most notably from the rise in 
streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+, which 
offer subscribers a huge choice of feature films and documentaries at a 
single click. More recently, both Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic have 
had far-reaching impact on the independent sector, which adds further 
importance and urgency to this enquiry. Using Watershed as the central 
case-study, this project will investigate how these three factors have 
affected independent cinema’s approach to film exhibition, curation, 
audience development and community-building; its relationships with 
distributors, funders and policymakers at local, regional, national and 
international levels; and the strategies the sector has developed to 
adjust and even survive in an era of on-demand culture.

The knowledge and evidence base built up by this doctoral research will 
be crucial in helping Watershed, as one of the UK’s leading independent 
cinemas and the British Film Institute’s Film Hub Lead Organisation 
(FHLO) for the South West, to help its development of the independent 
exhibition sector locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. 
The knowledge gained through this project will enable Watershed – and 
the independent exhibition sector as a whole – to continue to play an 
effective cultural role in developing diverse audience tastes, and 
supporting a wide range of filmmaking practices being made available, 
ones that a market-led approach could not sustain. This project is thus 
an opportunity to make a real difference to how audiences engage with film.

*Possible Research questions *

This investigation of independent cinema exhibition demands in-depth 
analysis of exhibition practices alongside a broad understanding of the 
complex and shifting contextual frameworks – cultural, historical, 
industrial, political and regulatory – within which those practices take 
place. Likely research questions are:

  * How have the challenges of on-demand culture, Brexit and the
    post-pandemic shaped the business strategies and programming
    practices of independent cinema exhibition?
  * In what ways do the policies and priorities of funders and
    regulators – centrally the BFI’s 2033 strategy and its Film Audience
    Network – affect the operations of independent cinemas? How
    effective are existing policy mechanisms at supporting the sector,
    and how might they be improved?
  * What cultural role do independent cinemas play and how might that
    role be sustained?

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