Awards Ceremony for Vigilant Cinema Staff Tackling Film Piracy

Today the FCPA (Film Content Protection Agency) held their annual awards ceremony for vigilant members of staff from UK and Irish cinemas. 25 recipients were formally recognised and rewarded for their good work in disrupting and preventing incidents of film piracy in cinemas.

Hosted by the FCPA’s Simon Brown, alongside special guest Redd Pepper (one of the UK’s most well-known voiceover artists), attendees travelled to London from as far afield as Dublin, Edinburgh and Plymouth, and represented leading exhibitors including Cineworld, Odeon, Picturehouse, Showcase and Vue. The UK and Ireland’s record for in-cinema vigilance is exemplary with the territory recognised as a leading light in the global fight against film piracy.

Successful in-cinema efforts to disrupt illegal recordings of films helped to directly protect many releases across the year including Avatar: The Way of Water, Barbie, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Elemental, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, The Little Mermaid, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Oppenheimer and The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

FCPA Director Simon Brown said “There has been some fantastic anti-piracy awareness and vigilance by staff in cinemas across the UK and Ireland in recent months, leading to significant and successful disruptions of the activity. Today’s event focusses on acknowledging the great work done by some of those staff. We take this opportunity to say thank you and ask for continued high levels of vigilance to protect our films from piracy at source.”

90% of films pirated worldwide are sourced from cinemas, yet the UK and Ireland has not had a cammed film (a film illegally recorded in a cinema) traced back to its shores for over a year. Through regular engagement with exhibitors, ongoing training and the awards programme for cinema staff, the intention remains to build on the already vital work of the FCPA to protect film content in cinemas across the home nations.