Touring Cinema Coming to Tipton
Social media is really good for finding out stuff that’s going on in the local area. I’ve met lots of lovely people who do amazing things and generally make this a better place to live. It’s also how I found out about a new Community Cinema project taking place in the Black Country.
I recently met up with Olivia from Black Country Touring over a cuppa in Gather Café in Dudley (who just happen to sell the best chocolate fudge cake ever, as well as being a generally fab place to meet up with people!). Black Country Touring is based in West Bromwich and works to bring theatre and dance performances into the Black Country community. They work with schools, community centres, libraries and other community organisations to give local people an opportunity to see performances in their own community.
A new project by Black Country Touring is Black Country Community Cinema. The aim is to bring cinema to communities across the Black Country and they are looking for people who are passionate about bringing film to their community to become film promoters. This can be within the local neighbourhood or within a community who share an interest e.g. food, culture, sports, a time period or a hobby. The Community Cinema programme is generously funded through the BFI Neighbourhood Cinema Fund, in partnership with Flatpack, and supported by Creative Black Country.
Black Country Touring are always looking for new venues for the Community Cinema project. They are able to provide a full mobile cinema kit, film and film license to any venues who would be interested in hosting a film showing. They are also able to offer advice on publicity and marketing within the local community.
The long term aim of the Community Cinema project is to give community film promoters the skills and support they need to enable community cinemas to be sustainable. Promoters will have opportunities to develop a whole skill set – technical skills, publicity and marketing skills and programming skills – to develop their community cinema. There will also be opportunities to go to industry programming events and meet other promoters to share ideas and knowledge.
Olivia said “Community Cinema is an Informal way of bringing people together and offer a different experience to just going to the ‘normal’ cinema. It’s more relaxed and offers the space to chat about the films or issues raised in the films.”
It sounds a really interesting concept; the opportunity to see a film in a smaller venue that the local ‘pictures’ and have the opportunity to chat about it, rather than rushing out to beat the car park queue.
Recently there have been community cinema events across the region, including Wednesbury Museum and Art Gallery – there were screenings of “Summer Holiday” with Cliff Richard (I remember seeing this during my school holidays in the 80s!) and the more contemporary ‘Sing’, which the kids love. The good news is that Tipton had its own Community Cinema premier at Brook Street Community Centre, with the main feature being ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ (quite apt, given the summer we’re currently having!). Previous and Forthcoming films include:
24th August, 7pm, £5, Wednesbury Museum and Art Gallery – Some Like It Hot
25th – 27th August, heritage films as part of International Festival of Glass at Glasshouse Arts Centre, Stourbridge
1st September, 7pm, free, Coseley Youth Centre – film tbc.
9th September, 2pm, £3, Wednesbury Museum and Art Gallery – Singalong Beauty and the Beast (2017)
29th October, 4.30pm, £5, Bantock House – Girl Shy – Silent film with live piano accompaniment, part of Funny Things festival
3rd November, 6.30pm, £tbc, CAP Centre – Britain on Film: Black Britain
Keep an eye on @ThisIsTipton and @bctfilm on Twitter for more details.
If you are interested in being a part of the community cinema project, BCT would love to hear from you - contact Olivia at Olivia@bctouring.co.uk. More details can also be found at www.bctouring.co.uk.
