Many local Home and School associations hold “movie nights.” This can be an excellent way of providing an inexpensive night out for your school families.
Changes to the Copyright Act passed in 2013, however, have significant implications for Home and Schools, and what was permitted in the past under a province-wide educational license with film distributors is no longer allowed.
To legally show a movie in public – which includes showing it to students in the school as part of a “movie night” – requires a “public performance license” be obtained. In the past, the PEI Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, through the Provincial Library Service, has purchased province-wide “public performance site location license agreements.” With changes to the Copyright Act that define educational use as “fair use,” however, these licenses are no longer required and have not been renewed.