Showing a film as part of teaching does not require permission from the copyright owner, but other screenings outside your immediate family and private home is, in copyright terms, a performance in public. This requires the permission of the copyright owners. Examples of this sort of use include:
- film societies
- fundraising film nights
- on buses or coaches
- entertaining the kids at school or in a library on a rainy day.
In industry terms this is called a “non-theatrical exhibition”, and there are two companies which can rent you a copy of a film, which includes a copyright clearance to perform it in public. They are: Roadshow Film Distributors, Tel, +61 2 9552 8600 and Amalgamated Movies Tel, +61 2 07 4787 1086. These companies distribute to Australia and New Zealand. Please call them on the Australian telephone numbers above. The two companies have different catalogues of films, so if one company doesn’t have the movie you want, then the other may.