ABOUT / MANIFESTO
ABOUT US
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Founded in 2015 after years of screening films for friends in bizarre and ad hoc locations, White Wall Cinema screens a variety of alternative, fun, interesting, unusual, cult, and all time classic films in intimate locations around Brighton. We have screened everywhere from clothing shops, bars and warehouses to lecture halls, churches and boats. Our screenings throughout the year cover all types of film, from all genres and eras with a focus on those films that are a little off the beaten path, that you generally won't find screened at your local multiplex.
Sometimes our screenings are free, sometimes we ask you to buy tickets, sometimes we run double bills and sometimes we run an entire festival (including our annual Wes Anderson festival, Wes Fest). We have all our own equipment meaning we are able to set up almost anywhere (Got a space? Get in touch!) running venues with seating capacities covering anything from as little 40 people all the way up to 400+ people. So why not get involved? Be a part of our local community of like minded film lovers who want to discover the hidden gems of cinema past and present. Plus keep a lookout for our infamous Secret Movie Club, where we we don't tell you what movie you will be watching, and you won't find out if you cracked our clues until the opening credits roll!
OUR MANIFESTO
At the end of Wim Wender's 1976 meandering road movie Kings Of The Road (In The Course Of Time) about a travelling projector repair man visiting a string of small provincial cinemas in post-war Germany, the final word is left to a woman who keeps and maintains a small cinema in accordance with her late father's wishes for there 'Always to be a cinema in the town'. Despite keeping it in perfect working order & in a state of readiness she cannot bring herself to ever open the cinema, and gives the following reasons:
'"Film is the art of seeing" my father said. That's why I can't show these films, which are... mere exploitation of all that can be exploited in human heads & eyes. I won't be forced to show films where people stagger out stunned and rigid with stupidity, that kill any joy of life inside them and destroy any feeling for themselves and the world.'
She further insists 'But the way it is now it is better to have no cinema, than a cinema the way it is now'. This mourning of the passing of the great age of cinema at a time when blockbuster culture was on the rise all occurs inside a cinema (revealed in the final shot of the film) called Weisse Wand Licht Spiele or White Wall Moving Pictures.
For us the idea of a 'white wall' goes to the very heart of our idea of cinema, it could be anywhere, at anytime. Screenings do not need to be sanctioned by mega distribution deals, or mass advertising campaigns as seen in multi screen mainstream movie houses.
Cinema should be an engaging big screen communal experience, in contrast to today's sit at home alone and watch on your small screen laptop culture.
We are willing to create this kind of cinema whenever and wherever possible. When first looking for places to set up informal screenings with our friends we always used to say 'anywhere with a white wall will do'.
As Wender's film sadly echos, much of today's film culture is centred around mass release hype movies like The Avengers, or 50 Shades of Grey. We want to bring an alternative option where people can enjoy cinema that won't grace the screens of your local multiplex. We want to provide a place not only for new exciting cinema, but lost & undiscovered gems of the past, alongside cult favourites & definitive cinematic classics that whilst widely known about, still seem to remain unseen by the vast majority of the people we speak to and are rarely seen on a big screen. All of this in a fun informal friendly 'pop up' environment where discussion and a deeper understanding of these movies can occur pre and post screenings.
Whether it's an Oscar winning classic from the 1950s, an 80s b-movie horror, a black & white 70s German road movie, or a brand new movie with an IQ level higher than that of the latest Transformers sequel, we want you to come and share a white wall with us... although we don't generally use a white wall these days as we have screens... but whatever, you get the (moving) picture.
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- White Wall Cinema (2015)