We could be wrong, but we thought it might be of interest to some of you to explain a little bit about the process of putting a short season, such as the Frank Sinatra one on these pages, onto our screens. Unfortunately for us, it’s not quite as simple as just looking up his filmography on the IMDB and saying “we’ll have that one... and that one... and that one”. (Oh, if only it were, what a time we would have!)

The big questions are, of course, who owns the theatrical rights to the film, and where, if at all, might there be a print of it. Internet research forms a large part of the process, and the British Film Institute are a major source of information as well (infact the BFI had done much of the rights/prints sourcing on the Sinatra season already, saving us a lot of work). Then, of course, once all these rights and print holders have agreed to licence a screening or two, there’s a fee to be agreed upon. And then we have to transport the prints here... It can be very, sometimes prohibitively, expensive.

Here’s how the Sinatra season breaks down: Some Came Running, High Society and On the Town – pretty straightforward these three. The BFI’s distribution arm (BFI Films) have both prints (brand new ones in the case of On the Town and Some Came Running) and currently hold the rights; on The Manchurian Candidate and Guys and Dolls, Glasgow-based distributor Park Circus (who look after a whole host of film libraries) can supply both rights and prints (in the case of Guys and Dolls, a beautiful digital restoration); for The Man with the Golden Arm – the rights are with the BBC and the print is one held by the Academy Archive in the US (the Oscar® people), who have generously agreed to let us screen it whilst it was in the country for screenings at the National Film Theatre/BFI; for Pal Joey – the print is from Sony (formerly Columbia-Tristar) in the US, who have granted us special permission to screen their print whilst it is in the country, the screening being licenced through Sony UK; for Tony Rome – the rights are licenced through Hollywood Classics, a UK-based company that deal with a lot of titles on behalf of the US studios. The print is one held by Twentieth Century Fox in the US who have allowed us to screen it whilst it is in the country; and with From Here To Eternity, Sony UK have granted us permission to use the special BFI ‘Treasures’ print held at the National Film & TV Archive.

Archive and studio prints, being as precious as they are, carry very specific instructions on how they can be screened – Filmhouse is one of only a few cinemas in the country with the expertise and equipment trusted to do so. These screenings are in some cases extremely rare, and in some cases very expensive to put on – we’d love it if you could come and make it worth our while...