Screenwaves Launches Autumn Season With Free Screening of Eco-Doc ‘Home’ at UK’s Only Hydro Powered Cinema in North Yorkshire
Reel Solutions’ community cinema project, Screenwaves, has been awarded funds from BFI and Screen Yorkshire to transform village halls, community centres and the ruins of an old mill into pop-up cinemas for a second season.
With research earlier this year revealing that over 70% of its audiences hadn’t been to the cinema in the last year, Screenwaves is bringing the big screen back to rural communities with regular tailored cinema events played on top notch projection equipment supplied by North Yorkshire’s rural cinema pilot project, Cine Yorkshire.
Documentary film-making is enjoying a renewed cultural appreciation and box office success and this Autumn. Screenwaves will be showcasing some extraordinary documentaries that have the ability to move and entertain as much as any feature film. It’ll launch with a full weekend of screenings later this month at Howsham Mill, where earlier this year, Screenwaves presented the UK’s first film screening run entirely from hydro power. The event was covered extensively by Sky Movies to make an eco film special.
Howsham Mill is a Georgian watermill currently being restored for use as a community centre. It has featured on BBC’s Restoration and Countryfile programmes and sits on a tiny wooded island in the River Derwent at Howsham, North Yorkshire. It makes for a magical pop up cinema within the ruins of the mill. There’s no roof so audiences can watch movies under the stars. It is run entirely from hydro power generated by an Archimedes Screw and there’s a torch lit river walk across fields to reach this tiniest of cinemas (it can only seat 23 people on deckchairs) – all in all the weekend promises to be one of the UK’s most unique cinema experiences.
It is the perfect venue for Screenwaves’ opening night films on Friday 16 September. At 8pm there is a free screening of the eco documentary Home which gives audiences an awe-inspiring view of planet Earth shot entirely from an aerial perspective. Through visually stunning footage from over fifty countries Yann Arthus-Bertrand, the film’s director, hopes to provide not only a first for audiences – it’s the first film release to use aerial perspective throughout but also a stepping-stone to further the call for action to take care of and protect our HOME. At 9.45pm there is a screening of The Blair Witch Project which although not strictly speaking a documentary, was one of the first high profile features to make us a think it was.
Senna, the compelling life story of racing driver Ayrton Senna promises laughter, tears, thrills and spills for Saturday night at 8pm. On Sunday also at 8pm Screenwaves’ final film, Life in a Day, celebrates the astonishing spectrum of life on the planet with unique personal stories documented on one day, 24 July 2010, by people from across the globe. The film was produced by Ridley Scott and directed by Kevin Macdonald (Touching the Void and The Last King of Scotland) from 80,000 submissions, 4500 hours of footage and 192 countries. Both films can also be seen at Screenwaves film events throughout October at the Robinson Institute in Glaisdale, Snainton Village Hall, Hinderwell Village Hall, Burniston and Cloughton Village Hall on the following dates:
Senna – Sat 1 October 7.30pm Robinson Institute, Glaisdale
Senna – Fri 7 October 7.30pm Burniston and Cloughton Village Hall
Life In A Day – Sat 15 October 7.30pm Hinderwell Village Hall
Senna – Sat 22 October 7.30pm Snainton Village Hall
On Saturday 24 September, at 7.30pm as part of Cine Yorkshire’s very first archive film festival, Contrast/brilliance*, Screenwaves are celebrating Britain’s ancient folk traditions with a screening of the BFI’s Here’s A Health to the Barley Mow with live morris dancing and music from Yorkshire Coast Morris kicking off a nostalgic and enlightening evening at Burniston and Cloughton Village Hall.
MORE INFO:
Cine Yorkshire – website
Contrast/brilliance – website
Screenwaves – website
Screenwaves – facebook
Tickets – WeGotTickets
Reel Solutions – website
