c/o Artlink Centre for Community Arts
87 Princes Avenue, Hull, HU5 3QP
Email hello@hullindependentcinema.com
Web hullindependentcinema.com
HULL INDEPENDENT CINEMA PROJECT
(A CHARITABLE INCORPORATED ORGANISATION)
Report and Financial Statements Year ending 30 September 2025 Charity number: 1163544
Hull Independent Cinema Project, operating as Hull Independent Cinema, is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (registration no 1163544) and is recognised as a charity for tax purposes by HM Revenue and Customs.
HIC is proudly supported by Film Hub North, part of the BFI Film Audience Network.
HULL INDEPENDENT CINEMA PROJECT
Trustees’ annual report for the year ending 30 September 2025
The trustees are pleased to present their annual trustees’ report together with the consolidated financial statements of the charity for the year ending 30 September 2025
The financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006, the Memorandum and Articles of Association (The Constitution) and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities.
Chair’s Report
This report covers our most recent full financial year, 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025. We are pleased to report a full year of programming and film screenings and continuing partnerships.
During this period we put on a total of 77 screenings. This included three as part of the SAFAR Festival of Arab Cinema, our third year of this partnership. We also were a host city for the Kinoteka film festival for the first time, bringing new-release Polish language and independent Polish film to Hull, for which we held 5 screenings. We hosted the local premiere of Blitz and held four further screenings in close succession; a film that was shot in the streets of Hull as an ersatz London, to which we were able to invite over 160 local people who had been extras in the film to the screenings as well as a paying audience. We are grateful to the arts department at Hull City Council for the support funding for the premiere screening and being able to invite extras to attend our screenings free of charge. As part of a growing brand in Hull, we are proud to be included in the “Welcome to Hullywood!” mural painted at Hull Paragon station in recognition of our support to local cinema in the city.
In May 2025, LGBTQ+ History Month, we programmed QUEER, our first short season of LGBTQ+ film held at Hull Truck Theatre, for which we screened seven independent films; we also held a queer film maker’s Q&A panel and a post-festival social as part of this season. This was possible due to successful bids to Film Hub North (FHN) for audience development funding, which also supported a further new partnership this year, with Hull’s Freedom Festival. The partnership with Hull Freedom Festival saw five screenings at the outdoor Stage @ The Dock venue in Hull and we have plans to undertake community-based screenings in partnership with Freedom Festival next financial year. These new partnerships have been part of delivering one of our key objectives from our business plan, which is to grow the audience for independent film in Hull, specifically to reach audience members from more diverse backgrounds, and account for the significant increase in total films screenings in 2024-25 compared to the previous year.
As part of delivering our objective of reaching new audience and reducing barriers to participation, we also undertook a relaxed film screening this year, when screening THE STIMMING POOL, a documentary about neurodivergent people. We have continued to screen films with subtitles and audio description captions where these exist, no matter which language is spoken on screen. This has been specifically to make films as accessible as possible in respect of those with hearing loss, d/Deaf people and in recognition of our work to grow our audience amongst people who have a different first language than English.
We are proud to continue our partnership with Film Hub North. We hosted the Film Hub North regional meeting on 5 November 2024 at the Humber Street Gallery and gave a presentation on our journey to date. The networking opportunity with other independent cinemas across the region was much appreciated.
As well as grant funding from FHN to support some of the work summarised above, we have also had invested some of our own financial reserves to pay for one of our Trustees to attend the Independent Cinema Office (ICO) Cultural Cinema Exhibition in January 2025, a week-long intensive training course teaching participants everything about cinema programming and the industry more broadly. This has helped develop the skills set and capacity of our volunteer Trustees, who undertake all of the planning, programming and all other tasks related to our film screenings, and enabled us to broaden our film offer this financial year.
2
Previous FHN funding had given us the security to experiment with dropping our prices from £7 to £5 (with an additional £1 discount for HIC members) from January 2024 onwards, which we have been able to maintain this year and also fund a free ticket scheme. The rationale for this is twofold – we want to remove financial barriers from people being able to access independent film in the format for which it was created – the cinema. The other is also to support audience confidence post-pandemic and to help grow our audience. Continuing FHN funding also means that we have been able to continue our free ticket scheme this year, offering people the chance to come and see our films who might otherwise be prevented from doing so due to the financial, geographical, cultural or other barriers they experience. This year, we supported free tickets for members of local groups including Welcome to English, Open Door, Welcome House and our local HEY Volunteers. We have been able to support a total of 298 free tickets through this scheme.
As Chair of the Board, I must pay tribute to the hard work of my fellow Trustees, who give their time and skills to run the charity completely voluntarily, and on behalf of the HIC Trustee Board, I want to thank our audiences, members and volunteers for you r continuing support. Nothing HIC does would be possible without you. Thank you.
James Russell Chair of Trustees
3
Our purposes and activities
The purposes of the charity are:
To advance the education of the public in the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the art of film, in particular but not exclusively by:
(a) the screening of films of artistic merit and educative value in and around the city of Kingston Upon Hull; and
(b) establishing, maintaining and providing educational programmes, exhibition space and production facilities.
Our charity has considered its public benefit aims as a charity; we undertake screenings and work to further the understanding and appreciation of world, independent, documentary and art-house cinema on a non-profit basis. Our programming provides Hull audiences with the opportunity to see great films that would otherwise not be shown in the city. Our film screenings are priced so as to be as accessible as possible whilst covering the costs of screenings and enabling the charity to maintain reserves to provide financial resilience. We introduced an Audience Choice screening two years ago to engage our audiences more directly with our programming and continue with this each quarterly season. Our free ticket scheme, operating since November 2022 at our core programme screenings and the third year of the SAFAR film festival, enables new audiences to engage with our work.
The screening figures for 1 October 2024-30 September 2025 are as follows:
| Screeningtype | No. of films/screenings | Total audience attendance |
|---|---|---|
| Full-length world, independent and art-house film (including SAFAR Film Festival 2025 and other special / partnershipevents) |
77 | 4,371 |
| For comparison, our screenings from 1 October 2023–30 September 2024 were as follows: | ||
| Screeningtype | No. of films/screenings | Total audience attendance |
| Full-length world, independent and art-house film (including SAFAR Film Festival 2024 and other special / partnershipevents) |
61 | 4,586 |
Financial review
In the current financial year our accounts show a surplus. The charity also benefits from historic reserves. In 202122, Hull Independent Cinema returned a deficit set of accounts. The last three years’ surplus position has only been possible due to grant funding, which has helped cover some of the costs of running Hull Independent Cinema film screenings, which include screening room hire, film licences and marketing. As of the end of the financial year covered by this report, HIC is in ongoing discussion with FHN and other partners about renewed financial support for our work in 2026 and beyond.
The organisation retains over £5,000 in its reserve account. This is in line with the organisation’s financial management policy, which would allow for circa 6 months running costs of core costs and film screening, taking account of the income this would generate.
We keep our finances under regular review at our Trustee meetings. We have noted an increase in core costs, particularly the costs of electronic and post communications. As such, we adjusted our membership offer to reduce costs of new membership packs and to give our members benefits of two free tickets per year as well as the existing discounted ticket price scheme. Our membership covers a lot of our core costs and members’ generosity with additional donations alongside membership has enabled us to claim a healthy gift aid donation as well. We would like to thank our members for their continued support.
We also look at the costs of cinema screenings and this year, we are really pleased to have returned to Middleton Hall at the University of Hull for a number of our screenings. This has given us more options as a venue with a larger seating capacity for films that we know will be popular, as well as giving us more options for screening dates
4
together with our other venues, Hull Truck Theatre and Vue Cinema (in the period covered by this report; as of January 2026 we no longer screen films at Vue Cinema and have moved these screenings to Reel Cinema).
Reserves policy and going concern
Our current reserves policy is to retain an amount sufficient to cover the costs of running the organisation and our regular weekly film programme for a period of six months. The benefits of such a policy were clearly demonstrated during the pandemic shutdown, when we had no income beyond a small number of donations but were able to use reserves to cover our ongoing overhead.
This policy is kept under review by the Trustees. The charity has sufficient income and reserves after liabilities to prepare the accounts on a going concern basis.
Plans for the future period
At the time of writing in June 2026, we are working with Film Hub North on plans for audience outreach as a key development goal for the organisation, recognising that our existing Trustee Board does not have the time or capacity to devote to this work. We look forward to completing some community screenings as part of our work with Freedom Festival and are always keen to work with local, regional and national partner organisations to offer new films and added value such as Q&As to our programme.
We are always looking for new Trustees to join the organisation, and welcome expressions of interest from anyone who is interested in providing their time in support of the work that HIC does.
Reference and administrative details
Charity number: 1163544
Registered office: C/O Artlink, 87 Princes Avenue, Hull, HU5 3QP
Bankers: The Co-operative Bank, 1 Balloon Street, Manchester, M60 4EP Hull and East Yorkshire Credit Union, 38 Brook Street, Hull, HU2 8LA
Trustees at 30 September 2025
Chair James Russell (Chair of Trustees) Trustees Ellie Irwin, Carla Ramsay (Honorary Treasurer and Company Secretary), Theo Rintoul, Samuel Sims, Matthew Smith, Philip Stevens, Paul Terry
Hull Independent Cinema did not have any employees during 2024-25
Structure, governance and management
HIC is governed by its Constitution and managed by a Trustee Board of up to twelve. Trustees may be elected or appointed by the Trustee Board with that appointment confirmed by the members at the next AGM.
The Trustees are volunteers and do not receive any remuneration for their role as Trustees. They are paid expenses in accordance with HIC’s Expenses Policy for any out of pocket expenses incurred as part of their duties.
At the 2025 AGM, Trustees Ellie Irwin, Paul Terry and Carla Ramsay retired by rotation and stood for re-election.
Trustee terms of office will expire according to the process set out in Clause 12 of our Constitution.
5
Trustees’ responsibilities in relation to the financial statements
The Trustees are responsible for preparing the annual report and accounts in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
The Trustees are required to prepare financial statements for each year that are a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable organisation and the incoming resources and the application of those resources, including income and expenditure for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:
-
Select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently
-
Observe the methods and principles in the Charities Commission SORP
-
Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent
-
State whether applicable UK accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements
-
Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue its business
The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
Statement as to disclosure
In so far as the Trustees are aware at the time of approving our annual report:
-
There is no relevant information discovered in preparing this report that is not disclosed in this document and
-
The Trustees, having made enquiries of each other, have taken all steps that they are obliged to take as a Trustee in order to make themselves aware of any relevant information and to establish that they are aware of that information
By order of the board of trustees.
Signed:
James Russell (Chair) 18 June 2026
6
LEFT PURPOSELY BLANK
----- Start of picture text -----
Hull Independent Cinema Project No 1163544
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Receipts and payments accounts
01-Oct-2024 30-Sep-2025 For the period To from
CC16a
Section A Receipts and payments
| A1 Receipts | Unrestricted funds to nearest £ 688 21727 2160 0 24575 - **24575 ** |
Restricted funds to nearest £ 0 7729 0 0 0 7729 - **7729 ** |
Endowment funds to nearest £ - - - - - - - - |
Total funds to nearest £ 688 7729 21727 2160 0 32304 - 32304 |
Last year to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donations and legacies | 688 | 211 | |||
| Grants | 0 | ||||
| Income from charitable activities | |||||
| Film screenings and membership | 21727 | 25856 | |||
| Income from other sources | 2160 | 0 | |||
| Investment income | 0 | 0 | |||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) | |||||
| 24575 | 25856 | ||||
| A2 Asset and investment sales Total receipts |
|||||
| - | |||||
| **24575 ** | **7729 ** | - | 32304 | 25856 |
8
A3 Payments
| A3 Payments | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salaries and staff costs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Screening expenditure | 22170 | 3729 | 0 | 25899 | 23827 | |||||
| Core costs | 1185 | 0 | 0 | 1185 | 1638 | |||||
| Training and business development | 700 | 0 | 0 | 700 | 0 | |||||
| Exceptional adjustment | 183 | 0 | 0 | 183 | 0 | |||||
| Sub total | 24238 | 3729 | 0 | **27967 ** | 25465 | |||||
| A4 Asset and investment | ||||||||||
| purchases | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | |||||
| Total payments | **24238 ** | **3729 ** | - | 27967 | 25465 | |||||
| Net of receipts/(payments) | 337 | 4000 | - | 4337 | 391 | |||||
| A5 Transfers between funds | ||||||||||
| A6 Cash funds last year end | 14399 | 0 | 14399 | 14,008 | ||||||
| Cash funds this year end | 14736 | 4000 | - | 18736 | 14,399 |
9
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Categories B1 Cash funds B2 Other monetary assets B3 Investment assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use |
Details Co-operative Bank (current account) Hull and East Yorkshire Credit Union (reserve account) Paypal Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details None Details None Details None |
Unrestricted funds to nearest £ 9299 5200 237 14736 OK Unrestricted funds to nearest £ - Fund to which asset belongs - Fund to which asset belongs - |
Restricted funds to nearest £ 4000 - - 4000 OK Restricted funds to nearest £ - Cost (optional) - Cost (optional) - |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| OK | ||||
| Endowment funds to nearest £ |
||||
| - | ||||
| Current value (optional) |
||||
| - | ||||
| Current value (optional) |
||||
| None | - | - | - |
10
----- Start of picture text -----
Fund to which Amount due When due
Details liability relates (optional) (optional)
None - - -
Date of
Signature Print Name
approval
James Russell 18 June 2026
----- End of picture text -----
B5 Liabilities
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees
11
Notes on the accounts
1 Accounting Policies
The principal accounting policies adopted, judgements and key sources of estimation or uncertainty in the preparation of the financial statements are as follows:
a) Basis of preparation
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standards for Smaller Entities published on 16 July 2014, the Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities (effective January 2015) and the Companies Act 2006. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policies note(s).
b) Preparation of the accounts on a going concern basis
The trustees are of the view that the trading and cash position of the organisation have secured the immediate future of the organisation for the next 12 to 18 months and on this basis the assessment of the trustees is that the charity is a going concern.
c) Income recognition policies
Items of income are recognised and are included in the accounts when all of the following criteria are met:
-
The charity has entitlement to the funds
-
Any performance conditions attached to the item(s) of income have been met or are fully within the control of the charity
-
There is sufficient certainty that receipt of the income is considered probable, and
-
The amount can be measured reliably
d) Donated services and facilities
Donated services and facilities are recognised as income when the charity has control over the item, any conditions associated with the donated item have been met, the receipt of economic benefit from the use by the charity of the item is probably and that economic benefit can be measured reliably. On receipt, donated services and facilities are recognised on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity which is the amount the charity would have been willing to pay to obtain services or facilities of equivalent economic benefit on the open market; a corresponding amount is then recognised in expenditure in the period of receipt.
e) Interest receivable
Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity; this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the bank.
f) Fund accounting
Unrestricted funds are available to expend on activities that further any of the purposes of the charity. Designated funds are unrestricted funds of the charity which the trustees have decided at their discretion to set aside to use for a specific purpose. Restricted funds are donations or funding that the donor has specified are to be solely used for particular areas of the charity’s work or specific artistic projects being undertaken by the organisation.
g) Expenditure
Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is classified under the following activity headings:
- Expenditure on charitable activities – includes the costs of film screenings and other activities undertaken to further the purposes of the clarity
12
- Expenditure of organisational operations – these are the support costs that assist the work of the charity but do not directly undertake charitable activities. Support costs include back office costs, insurance, governance, etc, which support the charity’s charitable activities. The basis of support costs has been set out at note 10.
The charity’s turnover is not sufficient to be VAT registered. The charity pays VAT on all services received and goods purchased, except for a small number of exemptions on goods purchased as allowed by current VAT treatment set by HMRC.
h) Tangible fixed assets Individual fixed assets costing £1,000 or more are capitalised at cost and are depreciated over their estimated useful economic lives on a straight line basis as follows:
| Asset category | Annual rate |
|---|---|
| Equipment | 33% |
| Cabling and discs | 50% |
i) Any stock is included at cost or net realisable value. Donated items of stock are recognised on receipt at fair value, which is the amount the charity would have been willing to pay for the items on the open market.
j) Debtors
Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discounts offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid after taking account of any trade discounts due.
k) Cash at bank and in hand
Cash at bank and in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of the acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.
l) Creditors and provisions
Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.
m) Financial instruments
The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments.
2 Legal status of the organisation
Hull Independent Cinema Project is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, registered with and regulated by the Charity Commission. It trades as Hull Independent Cinema. It was incorporated on 13 September 2015.
13
c/o Artlink Centre for Community Arts
87 Princes Avenue, Hull, HU5 3QP
Email hello@hullindependentcinema.com
Web hullindependentcinema.com
HULL INDEPENDENT CINEMA PROJECT
(A CHARITABLE INCORPORATED ORGANISATION)
Report and Financial Statements Year ending 30 September 2025 Charity number: 1163544
Hull Independent Cinema Project, operating as Hull Independent Cinema, is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (registration no 1163544) and is recognised as a charity for tax purposes by HM Revenue and Customs.
HIC is proudly supported by Film Hub North, part of the BFI Film Audience Network.
HULL INDEPENDENT CINEMA PROJECT
Trustees’ annual report for the year ending 30 September 2025
The trustees are pleased to present their annual trustees’ report together with the consolidated financial statements of the charity for the year ending 30 September 2025
The financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006, the Memorandum and Articles of Association (The Constitution) and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities.
Chair’s Report
This report covers our most recent full financial year, 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025. We are pleased to report a full year of programming and film screenings and continuing partnerships.
During this period we put on a total of 77 screenings. This included three as part of the SAFAR Festival of Arab Cinema, our third year of this partnership. We also were a host city for the Kinoteka film festival for the first time, bringing new-release Polish language and independent Polish film to Hull, for which we held 5 screenings. We hosted the local premiere of Blitz and held four further screenings in close succession; a film that was shot in the streets of Hull as an ersatz London, to which we were able to invite over 160 local people who had been extras in the film to the screenings as well as a paying audience. We are grateful to the arts department at Hull City Council for the support funding for the premiere screening and being able to invite extras to attend our screenings free of charge. As part of a growing brand in Hull, we are proud to be included in the “Welcome to Hullywood!” mural painted at Hull Paragon station in recognition of our support to local cinema in the city.
In May 2025, LGBTQ+ History Month, we programmed QUEER, our first short season of LGBTQ+ film held at Hull Truck Theatre, for which we screened seven independent films; we also held a queer film maker’s Q&A panel and a post-festival social as part of this season. This was possible due to successful bids to Film Hub North (FHN) for audience development funding, which also supported a further new partnership this year, with Hull’s Freedom Festival. The partnership with Hull Freedom Festival saw five screenings at the outdoor Stage @ The Dock venue in Hull and we have plans to undertake community-based screenings in partnership with Freedom Festival next financial year. These new partnerships have been part of delivering one of our key objectives from our business plan, which is to grow the audience for independent film in Hull, specifically to reach audience members from more diverse backgrounds, and account for the significant increase in total films screenings in 2024-25 compared to the previous year.
As part of delivering our objective of reaching new audience and reducing barriers to participation, we also undertook a relaxed film screening this year, when screening THE STIMMING POOL, a documentary about neurodivergent people. We have continued to screen films with subtitles and audio description captions where these exist, no matter which language is spoken on screen. This has been specifically to make films as accessible as possible in respect of those with hearing loss, d/Deaf people and in recognition of our work to grow our audience amongst people who have a different first language than English.
We are proud to continue our partnership with Film Hub North. We hosted the Film Hub North regional meeting on 5 November 2024 at the Humber Street Gallery and gave a presentation on our journey to date. The networking opportunity with other independent cinemas across the region was much appreciated.
As well as grant funding from FHN to support some of the work summarised above, we have also had invested some of our own financial reserves to pay for one of our Trustees to attend the Independent Cinema Office (ICO) Cultural Cinema Exhibition in January 2025, a week-long intensive training course teaching participants everything about cinema programming and the industry more broadly. This has helped develop the skills set and capacity of our volunteer Trustees, who undertake all of the planning, programming and all other tasks related to our film screenings, and enabled us to broaden our film offer this financial year.
2
Previous FHN funding had given us the security to experiment with dropping our prices from £7 to £5 (with an additional £1 discount for HIC members) from January 2024 onwards, which we have been able to maintain this year and also fund a free ticket scheme. The rationale for this is twofold – we want to remove financial barriers from people being able to access independent film in the format for which it was created – the cinema. The other is also to support audience confidence post-pandemic and to help grow our audience. Continuing FHN funding also means that we have been able to continue our free ticket scheme this year, offering people the chance to come and see our films who might otherwise be prevented from doing so due to the financial, geographical, cultural or other barriers they experience. This year, we supported free tickets for members of local groups including Welcome to English, Open Door, Welcome House and our local HEY Volunteers. We have been able to support a total of 298 free tickets through this scheme.
As Chair of the Board, I must pay tribute to the hard work of my fellow Trustees, who give their time and skills to run the charity completely voluntarily, and on behalf of the HIC Trustee Board, I want to thank our audiences, members and volunteers for you r continuing support. Nothing HIC does would be possible without you. Thank you.
James Russell Chair of Trustees
3
Our purposes and activities
The purposes of the charity are:
To advance the education of the public in the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the art of film, in particular but not exclusively by:
(a) the screening of films of artistic merit and educative value in and around the city of Kingston Upon Hull; and
(b) establishing, maintaining and providing educational programmes, exhibition space and production facilities.
Our charity has considered its public benefit aims as a charity; we undertake screenings and work to further the understanding and appreciation of world, independent, documentary and art-house cinema on a non-profit basis. Our programming provides Hull audiences with the opportunity to see great films that would otherwise not be shown in the city. Our film screenings are priced so as to be as accessible as possible whilst covering the costs of screenings and enabling the charity to maintain reserves to provide financial resilience. We introduced an Audience Choice screening two years ago to engage our audiences more directly with our programming and continue with this each quarterly season. Our free ticket scheme, operating since November 2022 at our core programme screenings and the third year of the SAFAR film festival, enables new audiences to engage with our work.
The screening figures for 1 October 2024-30 September 2025 are as follows:
| Screeningtype | No. of films/screenings | Total audience attendance |
|---|---|---|
| Full-length world, independent and art-house film (including SAFAR Film Festival 2025 and other special / partnershipevents) |
77 | 4,371 |
| For comparison, our screenings from 1 October 2023–30 September 2024 were as follows: | ||
| Screeningtype | No. of films/screenings | Total audience attendance |
| Full-length world, independent and art-house film (including SAFAR Film Festival 2024 and other special / partnershipevents) |
61 | 4,586 |
Financial review
In the current financial year our accounts show a surplus. The charity also benefits from historic reserves. In 202122, Hull Independent Cinema returned a deficit set of accounts. The last three years’ surplus position has only been possible due to grant funding, which has helped cover some of the costs of running Hull Independent Cinema film screenings, which include screening room hire, film licences and marketing. As of the end of the financial year covered by this report, HIC is in ongoing discussion with FHN and other partners about renewed financial support for our work in 2026 and beyond.
The organisation retains over £5,000 in its reserve account. This is in line with the organisation’s financial management policy, which would allow for circa 6 months running costs of core costs and film screening, taking account of the income this would generate.
We keep our finances under regular review at our Trustee meetings. We have noted an increase in core costs, particularly the costs of electronic and post communications. As such, we adjusted our membership offer to reduce costs of new membership packs and to give our members benefits of two free tickets per year as well as the existing discounted ticket price scheme. Our membership covers a lot of our core costs and members’ generosity with additional donations alongside membership has enabled us to claim a healthy gift aid donation as well. We would like to thank our members for their continued support.
We also look at the costs of cinema screenings and this year, we are really pleased to have returned to Middleton Hall at the University of Hull for a number of our screenings. This has given us more options as a venue with a larger seating capacity for films that we know will be popular, as well as giving us more options for screening dates
4
together with our other venues, Hull Truck Theatre and Vue Cinema (in the period covered by this report; as of January 2026 we no longer screen films at Vue Cinema and have moved these screenings to Reel Cinema).
Reserves policy and going concern
Our current reserves policy is to retain an amount sufficient to cover the costs of running the organisation and our regular weekly film programme for a period of six months. The benefits of such a policy were clearly demonstrated during the pandemic shutdown, when we had no income beyond a small number of donations but were able to use reserves to cover our ongoing overhead.
This policy is kept under review by the Trustees. The charity has sufficient income and reserves after liabilities to prepare the accounts on a going concern basis.
Plans for the future period
At the time of writing in June 2026, we are working with Film Hub North on plans for audience outreach as a key development goal for the organisation, recognising that our existing Trustee Board does not have the time or capacity to devote to this work. We look forward to completing some community screenings as part of our work with Freedom Festival and are always keen to work with local, regional and national partner organisations to offer new films and added value such as Q&As to our programme.
We are always looking for new Trustees to join the organisation, and welcome expressions of interest from anyone who is interested in providing their time in support of the work that HIC does.
Reference and administrative details
Charity number: 1163544
Registered office: C/O Artlink, 87 Princes Avenue, Hull, HU5 3QP
Bankers: The Co-operative Bank, 1 Balloon Street, Manchester, M60 4EP Hull and East Yorkshire Credit Union, 38 Brook Street, Hull, HU2 8LA
Trustees at 30 September 2025
Chair James Russell (Chair of Trustees) Trustees Ellie Irwin, Carla Ramsay (Honorary Treasurer and Company Secretary), Theo Rintoul, Samuel Sims, Matthew Smith, Philip Stevens, Paul Terry
Hull Independent Cinema did not have any employees during 2024-25
Structure, governance and management
HIC is governed by its Constitution and managed by a Trustee Board of up to twelve. Trustees may be elected or appointed by the Trustee Board with that appointment confirmed by the members at the next AGM.
The Trustees are volunteers and do not receive any remuneration for their role as Trustees. They are paid expenses in accordance with HIC’s Expenses Policy for any out of pocket expenses incurred as part of their duties.
At the 2025 AGM, Trustees Ellie Irwin, Paul Terry and Carla Ramsay retired by rotation and stood for re-election.
Trustee terms of office will expire according to the process set out in Clause 12 of our Constitution.
5
Trustees’ responsibilities in relation to the financial statements
The Trustees are responsible for preparing the annual report and accounts in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
The Trustees are required to prepare financial statements for each year that are a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable organisation and the incoming resources and the application of those resources, including income and expenditure for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:
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Select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently
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Observe the methods and principles in the Charities Commission SORP
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Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent
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State whether applicable UK accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements
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Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue its business
The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
Statement as to disclosure
In so far as the Trustees are aware at the time of approving our annual report:
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There is no relevant information discovered in preparing this report that is not disclosed in this document and
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The Trustees, having made enquiries of each other, have taken all steps that they are obliged to take as a Trustee in order to make themselves aware of any relevant information and to establish that they are aware of that information
By order of the board of trustees.
Signed:
James Russell (Chair) 18 June 2026
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Hull Independent Cinema Project No 1163544
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Receipts and payments accounts
01-Oct-2024 30-Sep-2025 For the period To from
CC16a
Section A Receipts and payments
| A1 Receipts | Unrestricted funds to nearest £ 688 21727 2160 0 24575 - **24575 ** |
Restricted funds to nearest £ 0 7729 0 0 0 7729 - **7729 ** |
Endowment funds to nearest £ - - - - - - - - |
Total funds to nearest £ 688 7729 21727 2160 0 32304 - 32304 |
Last year to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donations and legacies | 688 | 211 | |||
| Grants | 0 | ||||
| Income from charitable activities | |||||
| Film screenings and membership | 21727 | 25856 | |||
| Income from other sources | 2160 | 0 | |||
| Investment income | 0 | 0 | |||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) | |||||
| 24575 | 25856 | ||||
| A2 Asset and investment sales Total receipts |
|||||
| - | |||||
| **24575 ** | **7729 ** | - | 32304 | 25856 |
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A3 Payments
| A3 Payments | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salaries and staff costs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Screening expenditure | 22170 | 3729 | 0 | 25899 | 23827 | |||||
| Core costs | 1185 | 0 | 0 | 1185 | 1638 | |||||
| Training and business development | 700 | 0 | 0 | 700 | 0 | |||||
| Exceptional adjustment | 183 | 0 | 0 | 183 | 0 | |||||
| Sub total | 24238 | 3729 | 0 | **27967 ** | 25465 | |||||
| A4 Asset and investment | ||||||||||
| purchases | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | |||||
| Total payments | **24238 ** | **3729 ** | - | 27967 | 25465 | |||||
| Net of receipts/(payments) | 337 | 4000 | - | 4337 | 391 | |||||
| A5 Transfers between funds | ||||||||||
| A6 Cash funds last year end | 14399 | 0 | 14399 | 14,008 | ||||||
| Cash funds this year end | 14736 | 4000 | - | 18736 | 14,399 |
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Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Categories B1 Cash funds B2 Other monetary assets B3 Investment assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use |
Details Co-operative Bank (current account) Hull and East Yorkshire Credit Union (reserve account) Paypal Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details None Details None Details None |
Unrestricted funds to nearest £ 9299 5200 237 14736 OK Unrestricted funds to nearest £ - Fund to which asset belongs - Fund to which asset belongs - |
Restricted funds to nearest £ 4000 - - 4000 OK Restricted funds to nearest £ - Cost (optional) - Cost (optional) - |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| OK | ||||
| Endowment funds to nearest £ |
||||
| - | ||||
| Current value (optional) |
||||
| - | ||||
| Current value (optional) |
||||
| None | - | - | - |
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Fund to which Amount due When due
Details liability relates (optional) (optional)
None - - -
Date of
Signature Print Name
approval
James Russell 18 June 2026
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B5 Liabilities
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees
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Notes on the accounts
1 Accounting Policies
The principal accounting policies adopted, judgements and key sources of estimation or uncertainty in the preparation of the financial statements are as follows:
a) Basis of preparation
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standards for Smaller Entities published on 16 July 2014, the Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities (effective January 2015) and the Companies Act 2006. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policies note(s).
b) Preparation of the accounts on a going concern basis
The trustees are of the view that the trading and cash position of the organisation have secured the immediate future of the organisation for the next 12 to 18 months and on this basis the assessment of the trustees is that the charity is a going concern.
c) Income recognition policies
Items of income are recognised and are included in the accounts when all of the following criteria are met:
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The charity has entitlement to the funds
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Any performance conditions attached to the item(s) of income have been met or are fully within the control of the charity
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There is sufficient certainty that receipt of the income is considered probable, and
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The amount can be measured reliably
d) Donated services and facilities
Donated services and facilities are recognised as income when the charity has control over the item, any conditions associated with the donated item have been met, the receipt of economic benefit from the use by the charity of the item is probably and that economic benefit can be measured reliably. On receipt, donated services and facilities are recognised on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity which is the amount the charity would have been willing to pay to obtain services or facilities of equivalent economic benefit on the open market; a corresponding amount is then recognised in expenditure in the period of receipt.
e) Interest receivable
Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity; this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the bank.
f) Fund accounting
Unrestricted funds are available to expend on activities that further any of the purposes of the charity. Designated funds are unrestricted funds of the charity which the trustees have decided at their discretion to set aside to use for a specific purpose. Restricted funds are donations or funding that the donor has specified are to be solely used for particular areas of the charity’s work or specific artistic projects being undertaken by the organisation.
g) Expenditure
Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is classified under the following activity headings:
- Expenditure on charitable activities – includes the costs of film screenings and other activities undertaken to further the purposes of the clarity
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- Expenditure of organisational operations – these are the support costs that assist the work of the charity but do not directly undertake charitable activities. Support costs include back office costs, insurance, governance, etc, which support the charity’s charitable activities. The basis of support costs has been set out at note 10.
The charity’s turnover is not sufficient to be VAT registered. The charity pays VAT on all services received and goods purchased, except for a small number of exemptions on goods purchased as allowed by current VAT treatment set by HMRC.
h) Tangible fixed assets Individual fixed assets costing £1,000 or more are capitalised at cost and are depreciated over their estimated useful economic lives on a straight line basis as follows:
| Asset category | Annual rate |
|---|---|
| Equipment | 33% |
| Cabling and discs | 50% |
i) Any stock is included at cost or net realisable value. Donated items of stock are recognised on receipt at fair value, which is the amount the charity would have been willing to pay for the items on the open market.
j) Debtors
Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discounts offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid after taking account of any trade discounts due.
k) Cash at bank and in hand
Cash at bank and in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of the acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.
l) Creditors and provisions
Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.
m) Financial instruments
The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments.
2 Legal status of the organisation
Hull Independent Cinema Project is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, registered with and regulated by the Charity Commission. It trades as Hull Independent Cinema. It was incorporated on 13 September 2015.
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CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's rep.ort on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of Hull Independent Cinema Project On accounts for the year ended 30 September 2025 Charity no (if any) 1163544 Set out on pages 8-13 Respective The Charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. responsibilities of trustees The charity's trustees consider that an audit is nol required for this year and examiner under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Act) and that an independent examination is needed. It is my responslbilily to.. examine the acGounls under section 145 of the Charities Act, to follow the prOdureS laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5)(b) of the Charities Act, and to state whether particular malters have come to my attention. Basis of independent My examination was Carried out in accordance with general Directions given examiner's statement by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of Ihe accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be.required in an audil, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a Irue and fair, view and.the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below. Independent examiner's In connection with my examination, no material matters have come to my stalement attention which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect.. accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of th8 Charities Act or the acGounls do not accord wtth the accounling records I have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order lo enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Signed: Date: Name: Rebecca Crashley Relevant professional qualification(s) or body {if any): IER December 2017
Address: Alderson House Hull Royal Infimiary, Hull HU3 2JZ Section B Disclosure Only complete if the examiner needs lo hi Independent examination of charity acc examiners>. light matters of concern (see CC32, nts.. directions and guidance for Give here brief details of any items that the examinerwishes to disclose. IER December 2017