A scene from The Divide. Photo: Stills from The Divide.
BFI backing helps The Divide to cinematic release
Film based on The Spirit Level book to be screened country-wide
A British Film Institute (BFI) award is helping to bring The Divide, a documentary looking at inequality, to cinemas across the United Kingdom.
The BFI’s ‘New Models’ distribution award ‘supports experimental and ambitious release models, and creative marketing strategies that seek to exploit new opportunities outside traditional theatrical and marketing routes’.
Katharine Round, who directed The Divide, said: ‘We are pioneering a new way of releasing the film, which will be made available to semi-theatrical venues at the same time as the theatrical release (this is not usual), to encourage the film to be seen in a variety of spaces, from community centres, to public squares.’
She told the Friend: ‘We want to engage people with the effects of rising inequality in a way that focuses on the individual, personal effects it has on all of us. We want to bring new audiences to a subject that is notoriously difficult to communicate, and empower our audiences to get involved in debates and discussions.’
The Divide is based on The Spirit Level by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. It is being released through the Picturehouse Cinemas chain. The film will also be shown at selected Curzon cinemas, the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, and the HOME arts venue in Manchester. More cinemas will be added in the coming months, Katharine said.
