We spoke a little bit in first year about where you see a film, in what setting? And how this can enhance or detract from your enjoyment. I was reminded of this the other day when I watched a DVD of a film I'd seen in my cinema...
...by 'My cinema' I mean my movie theatre back home. It doesn't matter what I see there, it is always 100% more enjoyable than anywhere else. It's one of my favorite places in the world, and I hope it's always there. I started thinking about why this place is so special to me and I couldn't put my finger on it. It's called the Forum Cinema in Hexham, Northumberland.
It is a real piece of history in our local area, parts of the cinema have been taken out but what does remain in mostly intact from the day it opened. It still has very old fashioned seating, unlike Cineworld or somewhere modern with the fancy seats and cup holders, The Forum hosts rows of 'arm chair' type seats, that are so worn and comfy to sit on! They remind me of granny chairs! The interior is still very Art Deco with lots of gilded gold and kitsch pillars.
The screen (there is only one in the cinema) is actually quite but so is the room so it's all very intimate. As there is only one screen, the cinema shows one film a week. The film is decided and the poster is placed in a glass box by the door showing what film is screening that week. I love this, it means that if it's a film you really want to see you need to go within that week because it won't be back!
I had a look into the history of my favorite cinema because I realised I knew little about it's origins. The Forum Cinema opened for the first time on 23rd August 1937. It suddenly clicked, the thirties was the start of the Art Deco movement in America which explains all the Art deco interiors and the typeface used for the outside sign, all of which still remains today. The Forum operated throughout the war and for many years afterwards however with the rising popularity of television, 1960’s cinemas everywhere were struggling financially and The Forum was closed down in 1974. Money was so short that attempts to introduce additional attractions such a wrestling were tried but failed.
The Forum reopened in 1982. In the late 2007 it was sold to the Hexham Community Partnership with funding support from Tynedale Council.
This old entertainment guide advertises what's being shown at the cinema and the prices. The Forum still has only two performances daily, the matinee and the evening show. I also love that every film still has an intermission half way through! Why was this ever stopped? It gives you just enough time to go to the loo and get more snacks, it's perfect, I love it and the musical score that comes on!"Having secured a 21 year lease on the cinema the Hexham Community Partnership is now operating the cinema on a commercial basis." The Hexham Courant (our local paper)
Only by researching this have I found out that all profits generated by the cinema are used for the benefit of the town and surrounding areas! I think that has made me love it even more...
A really nice piece Charlotte. For me going to the pictures is inextricably linked with The Princes in Springburn in Glasgow. Although the cinema is long gone I have still been able to indulge in nostalgia because the box office and the seats were in the cinema in the 'Glasgow Street' in the Transport museum - instant nostalgia. Every time I took my kids I used to bore them rigid about it. Now that the museum is moving across the river I only hope The Princes goes with it.
ReplyDeleteAw that's really nice, at least the chairs are still in Glasgow! I think it's a shame that these small cinemas can't get the money they need to stay open when they mean so much to a lot of people. Hexham is primarily an 'older persons' community, The Forum allows the old generation who no longer drive to go to the cinema without having to get a bus all the way into Newcastle. so I think it's very important that they stay open.
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