Cinephiles are in for a shock this weekend as the Leeds cinema crawl returns to the city with a range of award-winning films.
The event will take place on Sunday at four Leeds venues.
One organiser, Mosa Mpetha says “All the films are highly watchable and enjoyable, and one may even have a surprise live element too.”
Starting at 11:00am at Cottage Road cinema in Headingly, which is the oldest remaining cinema in continuous use in Leeds, audiences can watch Edgar Wright’s 2004 comedy horror Shaun of the dead.
Viewers are then directed to Hyde Park Picture House where a screening of Bill Forsyth’s BAFTA winning coming-of-age ‘Gregory’s Girl’ will be shown.
The event then continues at Archive Leeds, in partnership with Scalarama Leeds, with a showing of James Cameron’s sci-fi classic The Terminator. And ends at The Howard Assembly Room with Oscar nominated Whiplash by Damien Chazelle.
Mpetha, who is the creative Engagement officer at Hyde Park Picture House said “after the success of year one, for which we chose films with a road trip theme to accompany the fact our pass-holders travel between venues, we really liked having a cohesive theme that brought us together.
“So for this years theme we chose sophomore films, celebrating directors superior second films, as this is our second year of the cinema crawl.”
Hyde Park Picture house opened in 1914 and now screens a diverse range of films, from blockbuster classics to independent films. The Grade II listed building, started as a private club but after the success of other local cinemas opening, the building was transformed into a cinema in December of 1913 and it remains the only gas-lit cinema in the UK.
Source: Georgia Lee | All Rights ReservedEach venue is different in its own way, with Archive Leeds being a coffee shop that is lending their space to Scalarama Leeds for the benefit of the cinema crawl.
Scalarama Leeds is a community group of cinema fans, who put on film festivals across mostly non-traditional cinema venues in the hopes of bringing alternative films and different film experiences to the people of Leeds.
Gary Benn, the manager at Cottage Road Cinema said “Each film is chosen by the respecting venues to match their own programming style – we’ve got Shaun of the Dead here which really links in with our vintage, retro strands.
“Picture house has an independent film which suits theirs and The Howard Assembly Room has one that heavily features music.”
Cottage Road cinema, described by Benn as “local, traditional and independent” was the first to contact the other three venues about the opportunity.
Cottage road cinema is the only independently owned cinema in Leeds and one of the oldest in the UK, it has been continuously showing films since 1912. To avoid closure, in 2005, the cinema became part of the Northern Morris Associated Cinemas and still is to date.
“It was us that brought the initial idea forward but as of now it’s a real group initiative where we are bouncing ideas off and working out what to do.
“The idea was for new students that are coming to the city to really explore what the independent cinema scene has to offer.
Leeds is the birthplace of cinema, we’ve been here 113 years and we have such a rich history as a city for cinema.”
Leeds’ ties to cinema go all the way back to 1888 with the world’s first ever film that was recorded in Roundhay by Louis Le Prince.
Since then the cinematic culture in the city has grown, with three universities and an international film festival finding it’s home there.
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