Exciting times for Chichester Cinema

SussexWorld

03/01/2025

as a new year dawns...

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. It's lovely

00:06to speak to Anne-Marie Flynn, who is the Executive Director at the Chichester Cinema. And goodness,

00:13when I go to the cinema, so often in the multiplexes, you're sitting there in virtually empty auditoriums.

00:19Yet, the Chichester Cinema is looking at possibly breaking even this year after a few years

00:25of loss after the pandemic. You're doing well, aren't you? Why is that, do you think?

00:31We are doing well. I think after the pandemic and then after the actors' strike,

00:38which definitely affected, you know, the pipeline of films coming through,

00:44that's all worked its way through the system now. And we've got the most, we've had a really,

00:48really solid programme, which is getting even stronger, particularly as we go into the new

00:54year, when it gets to the awards season. And there's some very, very strong titles coming

00:58through. So I think it's to do with, you know, the fact that we've had some great films.

01:04And we seem to have sort of turned a corner in terms of word of mouth. We've been working with

01:11lots of different arts organisations, all collaborating with each other, which I think

01:16has helped us all sort of to fuel each other's, you know, memberships and ticket sales,

01:25by all promoting each other and all sort of singing from the same song sheet, particularly

01:30with something like Carrington, where the Arts Society was doing a talk on Dora Carrington,

01:36the Pallant was doing an exhibition on Dora Carrington, and we played Carrington,

01:41a film that came out 20 years ago, and we sold out two performances of it.

01:45So that's a really lovely example of Chichester art organisations all working together.

01:51So you absolutely don't take the view that you don't just announce, this is what we've got on

01:57and open the doors, you've got to be out there creating opportunities and initiatives, haven't

02:01you? Absolutely, all the time. And we're,

02:04all the time, every single film we look at, we had a whole programme of environmental films

02:11called A Greener Screen, which we ran in October, and we ran a load of documentaries and films all

02:18about protecting the environment. We'd never done a thing like that before, and we reached out to

02:24lots of, you know, Sussex Way and the Landmark Trust and all these different organisations,

02:32and we, over a period of eight weeks, we sold out all of these incredible films about the

02:39environment. And we got people coming through the doors who'd never been here before, and now we

02:44know those people, and then we could talk to them about other things that we're doing. So for

02:49literally every film we do, we look at how can we get that film out there? Who can we reach out to

02:55who we might not have reached out to before? And talking about getting in people who haven't come

02:59necessarily before, you're talking about a fantastic project that you have with 18 to 25-year-olds,

03:05where you offer them effectively their own evening. Now it's a tougher sell, but you are determined to

03:10make it work. We absolutely are. The Film Club, we want, the first rule of Film Club is we want

03:17everyone to talk about Film Club. So it is for the 18 to 25s, where the first Tuesday of every month,

03:25they can come along with their friends, and for just £3.50, they get some pizza, and they get to

03:31see a fantastic film, and they have the auditorium to themselves. We put music on in the bar, and

03:36we're trying to encourage them to have chat about film, and to make it into a really lovely social

03:41occasion for them. And then the rest of the year, they can just come here and see films for £3.50

03:46if they join Film Club. And you will make it work, but for the moment it's quite hard work, isn't it?

03:51It is hard work at the moment, just as every cinema across the country is struggling to get

03:56young people in. So it's just one of those things that is, it is a tough struggle.

04:03And you think it's possibly because cinema in our day used to be such an event thing. I remember

04:08looking forward to the first Star Wars for months, and it was such an occasion to go there. Younger

04:13people now have lost that sense of event and occasion around cinema, haven't they? Because

04:17it's just too accessible. That's very true, and I think we live in this sort of, we live in a culture

04:22which is all about instant gratification. No one wants to wait for anything. They want it

04:27immediately. They want it on their phone, and they can get most things at the flick of a button.

04:32So this idea, this, you know, trying to build up this sense of anticipation for a big film event,

04:39apart from Barbie and Oppenheimer, which was the result of a multi-million dollar, you know,

04:46ad campaign, it's very hard to sort of engender that sense of excitement about a film when people

04:55know that within a few weeks it'll be on a streamer. And you and I know, Phil, it's never

05:00the same seeing a film at home and getting up and making a cup of tea and what have you as seeing

05:05it on the big screen. But it's difficult to persuade that that difference is there, isn't it?

05:10That's right.

05:12Brilliant. Well, good luck with all those initiatives. Lovely to speak to you.

05:15Thank you so much. I'd love to speak to you too. Thank you, Phil.

Exciting times for Chichester Cinema

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