100 Years
of Community Cinema and Film Societies
In 1925, a pioneering group of visionaries—including Ivor Montagu, Sidney Bernstein, and Iris Barry—founded the first film society in London, creating a space where avant-garde films, often overlooked by commercial cinemas, could be celebrated and shared with the public.
In 2025 we marked a century of community cinema with a year-long celebration of its rich history and ongoing impact, commemorating an incredible milestone with a dynamic programme focused on film education, networking, and promotion.
Take a look at how we honoured 100 years of film societies and their vital role in shaping the world of cinema, both on and off the screen.
100 Years
Gala
On the 20th September 2025 community cinemas from across the UK and some very special guests joined at the Millennium Gallery in Sheffield to celebrate this incredible milestone at the 100 Years Gala.
Hosted by film critic and broadcaster Rhianna Dhillon, the programme featured the Film Society of the Year Awards, premieres, Q&As and more.
We were delighted to be joined by filmmaker and community cinema champion Mark Cousins for a live Q&A.
You can watch the recording of his chat with Rhianna Dhillon here.
Celebrate with
Merchandise
You can still join the celebration of 100 years of Community Cinema by wearing your support!
We have a range of t-shirts and lovely enamel pin badges and your purchase will go toward supporting the next 100 years!
Festival of Community
Cinema
From October – December 2025, we held a nation-wide festival of community cinema, showcasing the inspirational and innovative programming of volunteer-led cinemas over the past 100 years. Providing a curated menu of titles available to screen as part of the festival and bursaries to support each screening.
Through the festival we supported 128 screenings, awarding £25,600 in bursaries to community cinemas and film societies across the country.
Screenings
128
“Raised my spirits and invigorated my belief in humanity, all in the space of two hours”
Festival of Community Cinema Audience Member
Bursaries
£25600
“We have a demographic many of whom can’t afford our local cinema.. Thank you for enabling us to screen the film”
Festival of Community Cinema Participant
Rebels with
Projectors
To commemorate this incredible movement, the Cinema For All team ventured out of the Sheffield office and journeyed to community cinemas across the country to make a brand new film capturing the story of this incredible movement – as it was 100 years ago and also as it is today.
100 Years
100Films
We invited community cinemas and film societies from across the UK to submit a ballot of their favourite films in order to compile the ultimate list of the 100 greatest films of the last hundred years, as voted for by the movement. A huge number of groups took part resulting in a list as eclectic and varied as the movement itself. The results of this once in a century poll were published in Film Stories magazine.
100 Years of Community Cinema
Exhibition
From 16th – 20th September we hosted the 100 Years of Community Cinema
Exhibition at Bloc Projects in Sheffield. The exhibition featured a curated selection of archive materials and highlighted stories from the last 100 years of volunteer-led film exhibition.