Log in
Policy
Everything you need to know about our films but were afraid to ask...
FILMCLUB Film Policy
FILMCLUB's library of films has been selected for our members with specific goals in mind. To find out more about these goals and to understand the educational principles on which they are based, please read the FILMCLUB Programming Policy.
Our film policy
Adventurer Ratings
At FILMCLUB we believe in the power of film to enrich lives and broaden minds. We want to help our members explore the huge variety that the movie world offers, especially the art-house, low budget or foreign language films that are often overlooked by the multiplexes and mainstream outlets.
However, we also know that while its good to be challenged, you don't always want to climb Mount Everest. Sometimes you just want a nice walk in the park. That's why we created the FILMCLUB Adventurer Ratings.
Ranging from 1 to 5, with 1 being the least adventurous, our Adventurer Ratings will help your film club decide on what kind of movie experience they want for a particular screening. Our ratings take a number of factors into account, including whether or not a film was made in a foreign language, how old it is, whether it was filmed in black and white, how challenging the subject matter is and how unusual its visual or storytelling styles are.
Note that the FILMCLUB Adventurer Rating is not a guide to how good we think a film is. A film with a 1 rating, like Back to the Future, may be just as enjoyable as one with a 5, like Zero de Conduite. In fact, we think it is a good idea to spread your selections across all five ratings, so your club will experience the full range of cinematic possibilities, from the orthodox to the out-there.
FILMCLUB Recommends
There are nearly 4,500 films in the FILMCLUB library. That's enough to last a lifetime of after-school screenings, and then some. And it can make choosing one film for your next screening somewhat tricky.
So, we decided to handpick a collection of a few hundred films that we feel represent the most absorbing, ambitious, imaginative, interesting and all-round excellent films in our library. We've awarded them our yellow FILMCLUB RECOMMENDS stamp.
The FILMCLUB RECOMMENDS selection encompasses a wide variety of films, from all countries, eras and genres. The one thing they all have in common, is that we think they represent the best that filmmaking has to offer. We hope you agree.
Age Ratings
All our films have an age rating to let you know whether a movie is likely to be suitable for the children and young people in your club. This isn't the same as a BBFC certificate, which is there to tell you what kind of content a film features and whether the BBFC feel it is safe for a particular audience. The FILMCLUB age rating takes that information into account, but also factors in whether we think your club members are likely to actually find the film rewarding, engaging and entertaining. It's not a scientific process - as you know, what one ten year old (or five year old or eighteen year old!) will enjoy is very different to what another might - but we hope it will give you a useful guide as to whether a film is likely to be right for the children and young people in your club.
Teacher's Guidance
If you click on the green button marked Teachers Guidance on a film's page, we can let you know whether it features bad language (and if so how much and what type). Not every film on our website features this guidance some don't need it and some we're still in the process of reviewing. For more detailed information on the content of specific films, please see the BBFC website and the parent's BBFC website.
Issues of Sensitivity
We hope that you'll have a thorough sense of a film's content between its BBFC certificate, our Teachers Guidance about bad language and the description of the film on its page. However, some movies may contain material that may cause offence to an individual or group of people. In particular, older movies date from a time when society had different ideas about language related to race, gender, sexuality, disability and a host of other issues.
If you do have concerns over whether to rent a specific film, or believe a film is not suitable for its target audience, please get in touch.
Subtitles and Audio Descriptons
Many DVDs have subtitles for the hearing-impaired and audio descriptions for the sight-impaired. You can find a full list of those available below: