Registered Charity No. 1165040
Annual Report
5[th] January 2025 – 4[th] January 2026
Background
This was our tenth year since establishment as a CIO. We continue to show films every Monday evening subject to the availability of the Pavilion Arts Centre (which generally excludes the Christmas season and the Buxton Festival in July), with an occasional additional screening on another day.
Achievements
We held a total of 44 screenings in 2025, plus an afternoon of short films (see below). Total audience numbers were down slightly - 3636 compared with 4034 last year – which is partly but not wholly accounted for by a slight reduction in the number of screenings due to the non-availability of the venue. The average attendance is 81. It should be noted that according to data just published by the BFI, cinema attendances nationally were 2% lower in 2025 compared with 2024, and are still 30% below pre-Covid levels.
There were 35 feature films, 8 documentaries and 1 animation; 15 were partly or wholly UK produced. There were 21 foreign language films and 23 with English dialogue.
The programme comprises primarily contemporary independent films but also some classics, generally when these are re-mastered and re-released, or as a tribute to mark the death of a cinema great. For example, the remastered Brazilian classic, Central Station , attracted a large audience, although numbers were disappointing for The Go Between , shown to mark the death of Julie Christie, and for a short Michael Haneke retrospective ( The White Ribbon and Hidden ). The largest audiences were for Small Things Like These, I Swear and The Marching Band as well as 2 of the 3 Exhibitions on Screen . The smallest audience was for the Palestinian film Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk ; this was particularly disappointing as it is a multi-award winner and produced a prolonged standing ovation and tears at Cannes. We can only speculate that there was perhaps little appetite for even more horror from Gaza.
The Exhibition on Screen films are now part of our regular programme. This year we showed films of the Dawn of Impressionism, Michelangelo and Caravaggio Exhibitions. Due to the licensing agreement, we charge an uplifted ticket price for these, although we have negotiated an agreement that allows us to charge a lower rate than that charged by commercial cinemas and the films have again drawn a large and enthusiastic audience.
This was the third year in which we organised a programme of short films made by filmmakers who have an association with Buxton or High Peak as our entry in the Buxton Festival Fringe. For the first time we were able to offer skills training in conjunction with staff from the Media Studies programme at the University of Salford. We received 16 entries from a range of individuals and groups. 11 films were selected for showing, which varied greatly in subject matter, length and style. They were wellreceived by the audience (up again from 145 in 2024 to 209, including 35 students/young people). We were pleased to again award a Jury prize (selected by a committee comprising trustees and members of Buxton Film) and an Audience prize (generously donated in memory of the late Keith Savage, founder trustee of Buxton Film). We were pleased to hear that there was a BBC
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representative in the audience who contacted us after the event to be put in touch with three of the filmmakers. We also continued to support the film makers by creating an informal network to promote skills sharing and ongoing development.
We have reinstated the short introduction to our films, following a hiatus after the death of the Trustee who previously did this. We have also produced and distributed postcards and flyers advertising the programme for the coming period; these have been very well-received.
We have maintained a relatively low ticket price, with a heavily discounted rate for children and students. We now have over 900 people on our mailing list, spread over quite a wide area, and regularly receive positive feedback on our programme. For example:
“I also really wanted to say thank you for all of your efforts - it's brilliant to have these Monday independent films that I've supported along with my family over the years. I really hope this will continue and plans can be made to try and 'future-proof' things as much as possible.”
Looking Ahead
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We will continue to develop an attractive and varied programme featuring the best of world cinema.
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We will run the short films programme again as part of the Buxton Fringe. To this end we will again offer a mentoring opportunity to inexperienced filmmakers who would like to improve their skills and will continue to support the network of filmmakers.
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We will introduce a modest increase in ticket prices from January. Current prices have been held at the same level for over 10 years was established. The new price will be £6 (up from £5) but we will maintain the £1 student/child price to encourage younger people.
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We will explore the possibility of using an additional, smaller venue in a building that has recently been sold to an entrepreneur who is interested in developing it for community use.
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We will develop additional methods to promote Buxton Film to expand and diversify our audience. We would particularly like to attract more young people.
Trustees
An additional Trustee was invited to join us this year, in light of her dedicated and excellent work in organising the film shorts. We will consider amending our constitution to reflect this important work in 2026.
Trustees as of January 2026:
Trustees as of January 2026: Associate Members Ela Beaumont Luke Bayirli Michael Glendenning (Treasurer) Jeanette Hamilton Luay Salman Marek Vilis Jane Barrett (Chair) Lindsay Crowe Moira Kean
Acknowledgements
Once again we would like to thank our friends at Buxton Opera House for use of the Pavilion Arts Centre, and above all our loyal supporters who enable independent cinema to thrive in Buxton.
Report prepared and signed by:
Jane Barrett (Chair of trustees)
Accounts prepared and signed by:
Michael Glendenning (Treasurer)
Approved at meeting of Trustees 13[th] March 2026
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| Buxton Film |
Buxton Film |
Buxton Film |
1165040 | CC16a | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| For the period from |
Period start date 5th January2025 |
To | Period end date 4th January 2026 |
||
| Section A Receipts and payments | |||||
| A1 Receipts Box Office Receipts 13,084 Other Receipts 250 - - - - - - 13,334 - - Sub total - Total receipts 13,334 A3 Payments DVD Purchases - Film licences 8,690 Other Expenses 948 - - - - - - Sub total 9,638 - - Sub total - Total payments 9,638 Net of receipts/(payments) 3,696 A5 Transfers between funds - A6 Cash funds last year end 34,443 Cash funds this year end 38,139 Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ Sub total(Gross income for AR) A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) |
to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Restricted funds |
to the nearest £ Endowment funds |
Total funds to the nearest £ 13,084 250 - - - - - - 13,334 - - - 13,334 - 8,690 948 - - - - - - 9,638 - - - 9,638 3,696 - 34,443 38,139 |
Last year to the nearest £ |
|
| - | 13,084 | 14,070 | |||
| - | 250 | 365 | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | 13,334 | 14,435 | |||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | 13,334 | 14,435 | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | 8,690 | 8,639 | |||
| - | 948 | 775 | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | 9,638 | 9,414 | |||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | 9,638 | 9,414 | |||
| - | - | 3,696 | 5,021 | ||
| - | - | - | - | ||
| - | - | 34,443 | 29,422 | ||
| - | - | 38,139 | 34,443 |
| Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Categories B1 Cash funds B2 Other monetary assets B3 Investment assets B5 Liabilities B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees |
Details Bank Cash Details Details Details Details Signature Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) |
to nearest £ to nearest £ 38,135 - 4 - - - 38,139 - OK OK to nearest £ to nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - Cost (optional) - - - - - Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Print Name Michael Glendenning Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Fund to which asset belongs Fund to which asset belongs Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional) |
to nearest £ Endowment funds |
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| OK | |||
| to nearest £ Endowment funds |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Current value (optional) |
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| - | |||
| Current value (optional) |
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| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| When due (optional) |
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| Date of approval |
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| Michael Glendenning | 3/13/2026 | ||