Smarter Featured Films and a New Curator Role: Cinemata Platform Updates

Cinemata just got a meaningful upgrade. Here's what's new — and why it matters for filmmakers and our growing community of curators.

Your Films, Featured at the Right Moment

Until now, getting a film to appear as the featured video on the homepage required a workaround — our curators had to manually adjust a film's publication date just to control when it showed up. Not ideal.

With this update, featured films now have their own dedicated scheduling. Our curatorial team can schedule a film to go live as the featured video on a specific date and time — perfect for aligning with advocacy campaigns, international awareness days, or festival tie-ins. If you've ever wondered how films get spotlighted on the homepage, this is the system that makes it possible, and it just got a lot smarter.

Administration page showing scheduled featured videos with date and time controls.

A New Role for Film Programmers and Screening Curators

If you organise screenings, program film events, or curate community viewing sessions, this one's for you. Cinemata now has a dedicated Curator role designed for people who want to explore the full library — including films that aren't publicly listed — to find works for festivals, community screenings, and advocacy events.

 

 

 

As a Curator, you'll be able to browse films under Unlisted and Private settings, and reach out directly to filmmakers to request access or let them know about upcoming events where their work could be screened. Restricted videos, however, remain password-protected — curators can see they exist, but will need the filmmaker's password to watch them. You can reach out to the film's owner through their contact form on Cinemata to request access.

It's a discovery role, not an editorial one — Curators can't modify content or manage the site, but they get the visibility they need to connect the right films with the right audiences.

Because this role involves access to films that filmmakers have chosen to keep private or limited, Cinemata will require a Non-Disclosure Agreement with all Curator applicants. Watch out for the application form, which we'll publish soon.

Stronger Privacy for Your Content

We've also extended our security layer to cover thumbnails and preview images. Previously, our secure file-serving system protected your videos — now it protects their visual previews too. This means if you've set a film to private or restricted, even the thumbnail won't be visible to people who shouldn't have access.

For filmmakers working with sensitive content — whether it's pre-release footage, documentation of human rights issues, or restricted screening materials — this is an important layer of protection.

Under the Hood

We've updated core dependencies across the platform to keep things secure and running smoothly. Nothing you'll notice directly, but it's the kind of regular maintenance that keeps Cinemata reliable.

What's Coming Next

We're excited to share that Cinemata has been accepted into the Open Technology Fund's User Experience & Discovery Lab. We'll be working with Kumquat, a design consultancy specialising in privacy-first tools for activist communities, to rethink how Cinemata looks and feels — from navigation to discovery to mobile experience.

Alongside the UX work, we're building community engagement features, improving the upload and transcoding experience, and adding a new Manage Media section so filmmakers can better organise and oversee their uploads from their profile.

Plenty more to come — stay tuned.

Technical Details

 

 

 

For developers and technically-minded users interested in contributing or understanding the platform better, view the Full Technical Release Notes on GitHub.

As always, thank you for being part of Cinemata. Every film uploaded, every screening organised, and every story shared strengthens this community.