Film fans brave the outdoors for cinema’s call of the wild

It is long after dark and we are walking through a stretch of boggy woodland lit only by a handheld torch.

The trees creak in the wind and a thick mist is starting to roll in off the Yorkshire Wolds. We are trying to find a derelict 18th century watermill on an island on the River Derwent in Howsham, near Malton, for an outdoor screening of the Blair Witch Project. I’ve seen enough of these films to know you do not go running off through the woods, no matter how scared you are.

Terrified or not, I’m stuck where I am.

Howsham Mill, a Georgian watermill, derelict since 1947, is undergoing a major restoration and has been temporarily converted into the only hydro-powered cinema in the country for a weekend documentary festival.

The mill does not yet boast a roof and during the previous showing, the heavens opened.

Mercifully, as we settle into our seats, the sky clears and an eerie moonlight pours into the ruins of the mill. As expected, the film is as terrifying as when it was first released in 1999.

When it ends, the screen fades and the stone walls of the Blair Witch house blur back into the Georgian brickwork of the mill. I grab Screenwaves director Zoe Naylor to help swell our numbers for the walk back.

“We are undergoing a real revolution in cinema across Yorkshire at the moment,” she says as we go.

“I feel we are leading the way across the country in this respect. Venues like the mill are just an incredible place to watch a film and are very special. But apart from that, there are quite a lot of communities in North Yorkshire that have never been served by a local cinema. A lot of the time, people have to drive for more than an hour to get to their nearest one.”

The Screenwaves project follows on from a three-year £1.2m scheme launched last July to ensure the latest blockbusters and independent releases are easily available for isolated villages and hamlets, and has already led to regular screenings in venues such as Whitby Pavilion and Northallerton Forum. It has funding until May 2012, at least, and it is hoped it could be expanded further to build on this new wave of enthusiasm for films across the county.

It is close to midnight and now so dark I nearly walk into my car before realising we have arrived back at the road. We bid farewell, climb in and instantly switch on the central locking, despite being miles from anywhere.

Zoe, meanwhile, heads back out towards the mill, her torch casting a lone light in the darkness.

Contrast/brilliance screens films across Yorkshire until October 5.

Where screens are lacking

Screenwaves was set up in response to figures that showed 73 per cent of North Yorkshire residents have not been to the cinema in the past year. North Yorkshire has an average of 4.1 full-time screens per 1,000 sq km (386 sq miles) compared to the national average of 22.3 screens per 1,000 sq km.