Turn of the screw provides a night to remember

And the Hollywood A-listers currently stalking the red carpets of Cannes are unlikely to be seen parading along the somewhat more bracing beaches of Robin Hood’s Bay and Staithes any time soon.

But for the rural communities along the North Yorkshire coast and North York Moors who have been forced to travel for miles at a time to try and keep up with the latest blockbusters, a revolution in the silver screen is taking place.

A new community cinema project is set to transform village halls, community centres and schools into pop-up cinemas for local residents and visitors.

Under the project, films have already been screened in some unlikely places, including at a Georgian watermill on the River Derwent in Howsham, near Malton, which last weekend was turned into a pop-up outdoor cinema for the night with the screening run entirely using hydro power from an Archimedes screw.

Now with similar screenings set to take place across England’s largest county over the coming months, residents who until now have been forced to travel more than an hour to the nearest multiplex are reaching for the popcorn.

“It has had a great response,” said Ann Pearson, vice-chair at Snainton Parish Council, near Whitby, which has already enjoyed one showing of The King’s Speech at its village hall under the project and is hosting another in June.

“There was a lot of interest from across the village in it and people were very pleased. There are people in the community who don’t go out to the cinema much, particularly elderly residents.

“We have to make the effort when we want to see a film, leaving the village and getting in a car for more than 30 miles if we want to get to the multiplex in York.

“When a film is being shown here it is much more of a social event and it is great to see the village come out for it. You know everybody who is there in the audience around you.”

The new scheme, called Screenwaves, follows on from a three-year £1.2m project 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.

North Yorkshire was one of three areas nationwide to be chosen for last year’s project, which is overseen by the UK Film Council.

The director of Screenwaves, Zoe Naylor, said: “There is already fantastic support for Screenwaves from village communities who are welcoming the opportunity to enjoy the latest films literally on their doorstep and come together socially.

“Programming and scheduling can be far more specific and reactive to the needs of the local audience, for example we are looking into scheduling screenings for parents with babies in village halls after their baby clinics.

“Many of the local village schools are within easy walking distance of their village hall thereby opening up access to film education without the hassle of transporting children miles to the nearest cinema.

“It’s an exciting model with so much potential particularly when operated in partnership with a local cinema who can provide technical and marketing support as well as offering all important online advance ticket sales.”

The venues chosen for the new Screenwaves project include the Robinson Institute in Glaisdale, Snainton Village Hall, Hinderwell Village Hall, Burniston and Cloughton Village Hall, Scalby Church Rooms, Cayton Jubilee Hall and Ayton Village Hall.

Organisers say they plan to screen the latest movies alongside archive films from the British Film Institute and the Yorkshire Film Archive, including the short Having A Wonderful Time, commissioned by the Corporation of Scarborough in 1960 as a promotional film to attract visitors to the area.

Screenwaves will also be screening Dawn to Dusk, a poetic study of the abstract artist Peter M Hicks, whose inspiration is the North York Moors.

Most of the films will be screened off Blu-ray or DVD on a high-quality HD digital projection kit. The Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough will act as a district hub for the project, operating the screenings as a major expansion of its existing film programme.

Any other rural communities across North Yorkshire who are interested in being selected as future venues for the project, should contact Zoe Naylor, executive director of Screenwaves by email at [email protected].

County failing its screen test

North Yorkshire, which covers 3,120 sq miles with a population of 569,700, has a dearth of cinemas which has meant many fans have to travel more than an hour to the nearest multiplex.

The county is served by 10 full-time cinemas, four part-time cinemas, 12 film societies and two mobile DVD schemes – equating to an average of 4.1 full-time screens per 1,000 sq kms (386 sq miles) compared to the national average of 22.3 screens per 1,000 sq kms.

Many rural cinema operators use DVD-based equipment and are often unable to screen newly released films which are on a different format, leaving village communities lagging behind in their movie-viewing.

Poor transport links also means many elderly residents and teenagers are not able to travel to multiplex cinemas in bigger towns and cities, independently of their families.

North Yorkshire is ranked in the bottom three of the country, along with Shropshire and Wiltshire, for its lack of cinemas and poor access.