WHY

Our aim has been to create a national conversation around the escapism of cinema at scale, while also creating regular, accessible opportunities for people to experience it, particularly those who have previously not engaged or felt like the cinema is a place for them.

WHAT

This year we have continued our work with the Escapes programme, bringing free monthly cinema experiences to audiences across the UK and Ireland.

Operating at over 160 cinemas, so far this year we have already shown 6 titles (Lollipop, The Surfer, Mr Burton, The Penguin Lessons, The Sloth Lane and the re-release of Point Break). with over 30,000 tickets booked for the first 3 films of 2025 alone.

Escapes offers everyone the opportunity to discover their local independent cinema — for free!

Thanks to the BFI awarding National Lottery funding, audiences can be among the first to catch brand new films ahead of release and long before they're available to stream at home. There's also the chance to enjoy classic movies on the big screen, just as they were meant to be seen.

Copy of Rich Mix Escapes 9th Sep 24-63.jpg

“We receive around 60 new sign ups to our mailing list after each Escapes screening. Our weekly newsletter is our biggest marketing tool, so to be able to get access to this data is really useful to us. ”

— The Cinema in the Power Station, London

“The Escapes platform has been fantastic in bringing in audiences from a range of backgrounds to our Cinema who haven’t been since No Time To Die, or haven’t been since before the pandemic times. We can say Escapes has established a new audience with us.”

— The Station Cinema, Richmond