More than 200 independent cinemas across England are set to receive grant awards totaling £16 million ($21.6 million) to help see them through the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
The grants —ranging from £7,000 ($9,500) to £564,000 ($763,000) and spanning sites of all sizes the length and breadth of the country —will come as a major relief to a beleaguered exhibition industry, with most cinemas now closed once again after authorities placed much of England under the strictest tier of pandemic restrictions as it grapples with a deadly second spike in infections.