Introduced by Kodak Eastman in 1923, it was primarily a more affordable option targeted at amateur and home movie makers. As the decades progressed, its inexpensiveness, combined with the lightweight cameras and portable projectors associated with the medium, made it the perfect film gauge for at-large news reporting and documentary. It also made it very appealing to artist and experimental filmmakers, with almost every notable experimental filmmaker of the 20th century using 16mm in their work.

The ease of projecting 16mm films made it possible to take audiences out of the cinema and create screening spaces anywhere, with the 1960s seeing psychedelic ‘happenings’ use colourful projections to add to the experience of "tripping out". The new openness of possibility was a revolution.

This special event to celebrate 16mm is an illustrated conversation between BFI curator and experimental programmer William Fowler and award-winning artist-filmmaker, Mairéad McClean. They will present a selection of classic and lesser-known short films on 16mm.

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For information on the full BFF23 programme visit: www.belfastfilmfestival.org