On Thursday May 8th, the Film Content Protection Agency (FCPA) held their awards ceremony to recognise the outstanding efforts of cinema staff from across the UK and Ireland. 19 individual recipients were formally acknowledged at the event, all of whom demonstrated the highest levels of vigilance in disrupting in-venue film piracy over the last year.
Award winners and their families, plus cinema and regional area managers, travelled from across the UK and Ireland to attend the ceremony in London hosted by FCPA Director Simon Brown alongside actor and special guest Tom Davis. Leading exhibition chains Cineworld, Odeon, Vue and Showcase were all well represented on the day.
The vigilance of in-cinema staff to disrupt the making of illegal recordings directly protected a multitude of releases across the year. High profile titles in 2024 included animations Inside Out 2 and Despicable Me 4; family films Paddington in Peru, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Sonic the Hedgehog 3; action pictures Deadpool & Wolverine, Gladiator II and Dune: Part II; dramas It Ends with Us and Conclave; and the year’s no.1 film, musical adaptation Wicked.
FCPA Director Simon Brown said, “We have a line-up full of exciting new film releases ahead of us, and these should be experienced in the best environment on the big screen at the cinema. Raising awareness of digital film piracy and empowering cinema staff is a key priority to ensure that the UK and Ireland remains the most safe and secure territory in which to release movies. I would like to thank all of the awardees for their continued vigilance and commitment, which has helped to safeguard so many great films.”
The worldwide piracy supply chain of illegal recordings relies primarily on sourcing content from cinemas and with the continual evolution of easily concealable clandestine digital technology, the ability to illegally record films has essentially become more accessible and could potentially become more widespread. The UK and Ireland continues to act as a leading territory in the ongoing fight against global film piracy.
The FCPA was formed in 2016 by the Film Distributors’ Association. Its aim is to make cinema releases as secure as possible by protecting film content and thereby safeguarding the intellectual property rights of film distributors and the creators whom they represent. The full press release is available here, and more information on the FCPA and their ongoing work can be found in the Safeguarding Copyright section of the FDA website.