In January this year Ramsgate Community Cinema opened its doors after an overhaul of what had been the former Cats in Crisis shop at 64 High Street.
Since then the cinema, created by Kent Film Foundation with the help of volunteers, has offered twice weekly film screenings with a wide variety of programming. The planning and booking, especially of those films not on general release, is undertaken by locally-based skilled but volunteer professionals from film exhibition and curating backgrounds.
The cinema is also open to its club members’ screening suggestions, especially if they are also willing to introduce the film.
The venue screens films on Wednesday evenings at 7pm and they have now changed matinee day to a Friday with showings at 11am to tie in with the return of Ramsgate street market.
The cinema has been one of the drivers in bringing a bit of life back to the High Street and is part of a growth of leisure-based ventures taking over former commercial premises, alongside Arts in Ramsgate, Discovery Planet and Sugar Rush.
On Wednesday October 2nd at 7pm, Ramsgate Community Cinema will host the award-winning documentary, Point of Change followed by a live Q & A with the director Rebecca Coley who will be in discussion with John Whitaker on behalf of the community cinema team.
The film tells, through archive, animation and interviews, how an Island, seaside community was dramatically changed forever by the discovery of a ‘perfect wave’ in the 1970s. Point of Change chronicles the first surfers to ‘discover’ this point break on Nias Island, Indonesia and the unintended dramatic consequences that followed.
Also present at the screening will be Mike McEvoy, a local musician who was involved with the film score of Point of Change. It features new music by scoring team Paul Oakenfold and Mike McEvoy, and additional music cues by composers Stephen Warbeck and Lewis Morrison.
There is no need to book, just turn up – doors open half an hour prior to the screenings, there is a bar and matinees are dog friendly. The cinema operates a pay-what-you-can system and free popcorn on a first come, first served basis.
The cinema also hosts free youth filmmaking workshops for teenagers, which are held every Monday (term time only) 6pm – 8pm. If you are a young person interested in finding out more about making films and all the many careers in the sector, just come along.
To keep up to date on the weekly screenings, information is posted on Ramsgate Community Cinema facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ramsgatecommunitycinema
If you would like to sign up to their weekly mailout, you can do that at: www.kentfilmfoundation.co.uk
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