Tell us your top 3 films of 2023!

Small independent cinemas are always going to struggle against the bigger players and this year has been no different as we all try to work out what kind of fall-out we are still experiencing from the pandemic. Audiences are definitely returning to cinemas but we are still a way off pre-Covid attendance figures even in the year that delivered Barbie and Oppenheimer slap bang in the middle of summer.

There have been difficult times. Our Open Air Cinema season was an almost total wash-out, quite literally, as we struggled against high winds and rain and had to cancel most of the screenings. In the 12 years we have been running OAC, we’ve never experienced a summer like it. The disappointment for audiences and the PAC team is only one part of the story too. When events are cancelled, holes start to appear in budgets and when you are a small Indy cinema, that can start to look very frightening.

Given all of the above, there have also, happily, been far more highs than lows. The Crowdfunder that we launched in November has shown us just how much people care what we do and how the PAC audience is officially The Best. We have been astounded by the response, it means so much. The campaign is running until the 10th January and we have set a stretch target of £12,500. We support the National Living Wage and want to give our wonderful and dedicated front of house staff the recommended increase from April 2024. Any pledges towards our stretch target will go towards funding this pay increase. You can make a donation by clicking below, and we still have lots of lovely rewards, including tours of Plymouth Gin Distillery, and PAC mugs!

Donate to our Crowdfunder 

In October we had the absolute privilege of being invited to Brest (Plymouth’s twin European city) to present Ken Loach’s film The Old Oak as part of the British Film Festival there. The trip was such a lot of fun and we were looked after incredibly well by the Brest Twinning group. We made some wonderful friends and can’t wait to invite them back to see us at PAC next year.

We have worked with some wonderful partner organisations around the city on a huge range of different projects. From Arts University Plymouth’s Fashion department to University of Plymouth marketing students, from Fotonow and Plymouth Youth Justice Team to Hidden Figures of Plymouth. We worked with The Box and The Arts Institute, UoP on a series of films and talks for the Joshua Reynolds exhibition, with the Urban Tree Festival, Cornwall Climate Care. We hosted festival films with the Japan Foundation, Safar Arabic Film Festival, the French Film Festival and Cinesisters SW. The Ocean Conservation Trust came in to introduce all of this year’s Into Film schools screenings and the children loved hearing about some of the badly behaved animals living on our doorstep at the National Marine Aquarium. The year is ending on a major high with screenings of some gems as part of the national BFI funded season, Cinema Unbound: The Creative Worlds of Powell and Pressburger where we have rediscovered the beauty and power of their films.

This year, we hosted 552 screenings, with an attendance of over 12,750 and no end-of-year review would be complete without picking film favourites. Just for fun, you can tell us your top 3 films at PAC of the year by clicking below:

Tell us your top 3 films of 2023  

The PAC team of staff and volunteers voted for their top 3 films. Many of the votes were tied, so there wasn’t a clear winner, but our top films of the year are: 1. Past Lives, Killers of the Flower Moon 2. Barbie, The Fabelmans and Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom

On a personal note, when I tried to pick my top 5 films, I found it almost impossible to narrow it down from an initial list of 22 but, if absolutely pushed, here are my top 5: 1. Aftersun 2. Rye Lane 3. Anatomy of a Fall 4. Brainwashed: Sex Camera Power 5. Smoke Sauna Sisterhood 6. Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom 7. Enys Men (with Mark Jenkins introducing it – pictured) I know that’s 7, I cheated!

Finally, the most important thing. Without our small team of staff and trustees, and our huge team of volunteers who give their time for free, we wouldn’t be able to keep showing all of these wonderful films and events. They all deserve a big thank you.

Thank you to the organisations who have affirmed the place of independent cinema in Plymouth by funding Plymouth Arts Cinema this year: The British Film Institute, Plymouth City Council, The Garfield Weston Trust and the Foyle Foundation. Chris Kallis Solicitors for their sponsorship and The Art Side for sponsoring our printed brochure.

Thank you to our Open Air Cinema sponsors who stuck with us through a very soggy summer: Arts University Plymouth, Plymouth Gin, Chris Kallis, Summerskills, Sandford Orchards, 24/7 Event Crew, Plymouth Citybus, Navas Drinks, Service Design Solutions, Plymouth Marjon University. Thank you to our brilliant suppliers and cultural partners across Plymouth who donated rewards to our Crowdfunder: Salcombe Dairy, Summerskills Brewery, Canton Tea, wine from Tolchards, Ocean Studios, Plymouth Gin Distillery.

But the biggest thank you of all, this year in particular, goes out to the PAC audience who continue to support, surprise and encourage us to keep going and to look forward to all of the cinematic treats in store for 2024.

What’s On In January 

See you in the New Year!

Anna Navas and the Team at PAC

The post 2023 – What a Year! appeared first on Plymouth Arts Cinema | Independent Cinema for Everyone | located at Arts University Plymouth..

More than this though, cinema should be accessible to all, no matter what the barriers are. In the current cost-of-living crisis we recognise that it is getting harder for people to afford to see films in cinemas. Your support will help us to be able to continue to offer our low ticket prices to those most in need. We don’t want people to break the habit of coming to the cinema because they can’t afford it. We introduced a £4 Budget ticket in a trial period in the last quarter of 2022. We sold 242 tickets and welcomed 53 people to the cinema for the first time with this price. Plymouth Live named PAC as one of Plymouth’s kindest businesses for this initiative.

“I really appreciate the concession prices, otherwise I just wouldn’t be able to afford to see such a range of films. My son is studying film production at Uni and every time he comes down we book a film with you!” – PAC Audience Member

It is widely proven that engagement with the arts alleviates anxiety, depression and stress, boosting feelings of wellbeing, and building communities. Everyone should be able to afford cinema tickets to benefit from this.

2) climate change, by investing in our equipment to make it more energy efficient, supporting greener modes of transport to the cinema and continuing to raise awareness with the events we put on.

Our projector and coffee machine are coming towards the end of their life. We need to invest in order to improve, maintain and even replace some of these things, and we want to do it sustainably, in more energy efficient ways.

We want to be a sustainable, affordable venue which can continue to put audiences at the heart of everything it does.

“Excellent way of connecting ideas through films. Loved that there was a workshop, film intro and a screening, all related to the subject. You really wouldn’t get this kind of cinema event happening anywhere else.” – PAC Audience Member

“I love the warm friendly welcome from the staff and volunteers, the comfort of the seats (as I’m disabled), the coffee and the amazing programming – we get to see some films we wouldn’t otherwise see.” – PAC Audience Member

By supporting this Crowdfunder you will:

We have some amazing rewards on offer from our some of our brilliant suppliers and cultural partners across Plymouth: Salcombe Dairy, Summerskills Brewery, Canton Tea, wine from Tolchards, Ocean Studios, Plymouth Gin Distillery. You can also get Plymouth Arts Cinema mugs, tote bags, pin badges, film posters, memberships and cinema hire.

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Here is a quote from Allen, after covering last weeks’ film, The Great Escaper:

“I have been somewhat unwell of late but as I started as a volunteer way back in October 1978 I was determined to cover yesterday’s matinee… The whole experience made me feel so much better and confirmed the fact that cinema-going can still be a wonderful way to spend an afternoon in a world fraught with hostility and sadness especially as the two main stars were so brilliant in their roles in a lovely film.”

In the past we have interviewed Allen about his memories of many years of cinema going, and you can watch/ read these here:

The post Celebrating 45 Years at Plymouth Arts Cinema with Allen Pollock appeared first on Plymouth Arts Cinema | Independent Cinema for Everyone | located at Arts University Plymouth..

PAC staff and trustees are delighted to receive the support of the BFI, awarding National Lottery funding.

As the only independent cinema covering a wide area of South West of England between Totnes and Falmouth, Plymouth Arts Cinema is based at Arts University Plymouth and embedded within the local community.

To continue to provide a vital part of the Plymouth cultural offer, Plymouth Arts Cinema has pledged to nurture the next generation of film lovers. The funding will be used to bring the magic of cinema to three defined groups: those whose socio-economic position makes accessing cultural cinema difficult; families and young people who feel excluded from cultural cinema, and more diverse audiences who more accurately reflect the changing demographics of the city. It will work with charity partners and cultural organisations across Plymouth.

Plymouth Arts Cinema is committed to making cinema affordable to all. A recent pilot of a “no questions asked” £4 budget ticket price was very well received and successful in welcoming new audiences, and the BFI funding will allow this to continue.

Paul Brookes, Chair of the PAC board, said “Plymouth continues to be a place where the arts and heritage flourish. At the height of the pandemic, it was a difficult time for us and other organisations, but audiences are now returning, though still not quite in the numbers we achieved before then. It remains a crucial time for the cinema, given the cost-of-living crisis.  This funding for three years gives Plymouth Arts Cinema the ability to attract new audiences for great cinema from around the world, to have a sustainable future, and to continue to subsidise the ticket prices, keeping them affordable when so many things have become more expensive.”

Anna Navas, Director and Film Programmer at PAC, said “The whole PAC team are very grateful to BFI for the Audience Projects Fund award. It is a huge testament to the hard work we put into creating a film programme that can be daring, boundary-pushing and entertaining. We work hard to make sure there is something for everyone in our cinema and at our Open Air Cinema events; from Greta Gerwig’s Barbie to Mark Jenkin’s Enys Men, and we can now look forward to welcoming many more new people to the cinema in the coming years.”

Plymouth Arts Cinema is also supported in 2023 by the Garfield Weston Foundation, the Foyle Foundation and Plymouth City Council.

Plymouth Arts Cinema is now preparing for its annual summer Open Air Cinema events at Tinside Lido, from August 11th – 20th, and will be screening Jaws, Grease, Enys Men, Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Blues Brothers and Roman Holiday. Tickets are available here.

Extra activity surrounding the screenings will come from the Shark Trust, Barbican Theatre, Shekinah Vintage, and Arts University Plymouth. The events are sponsored by Arts University Plymouth, Summerskills Brewery, Plymouth Gin, Sandford Orchards, Chris Kallis Solicitors, 24/7 Event Crew, Plymouth Marjon University, Plymouth Citybus, Navas Drinks, Services Design Solution.

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Anna Navas, Director and Film Programmer at PAC, said “We are delighted to receive funding to support our core activities. This demonstrates real recognition of the work we do to bring cultural cinema to the city. Cinemas have struggled since the pandemic, although audiences are now starting to return, and it is wonderful to be part of this positive change.”

Plymouth Arts Cinema is Plymouth’s only independent cinema and has an established history in the city since 1947, screening new independent films from the US, UK and all around the world, festivals, events, and special guests from the film industry. The organisation supports local film makers, and works with diverse groups in the community, such as providing specialist screenings for new parents, those with autism and dementia. PAC is committed to making culture affordable for everyone and has recently introduced a budget ticket price which has been very well received and successful in welcoming new audiences.

Ticket sales have been strong in January and February with a number of sold out screenings, seeing audiences coming back to the cinema more regularly. Although larger releases have been successful, the most popular screenings by far have been Enys Men, a folk horror film set in Cornwall by director Mark Jenkin, and an event featuring Wurlitza, a critically acclaimed band from South East Cornwall who specialise in playing live soundtracks to silent films.

Paul Brookes, Chair of the PAC board, said “Plymouth continues to be a place where the arts and heritage flourish. Audiences are now returning but it is a crucial time for the cinema. We are grateful for these grants, which give Plymouth Arts Cinema the ability to create a sustainable future.”

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The news has sent a certain kind of shock wave through the cinema exhibition sector but at the same time, nobody really feels surprised. I don’t think I am alone in wondering how cinemas, and particularly Independent cinemas, are going to survive the existential crisis facing the industry in a post-Covid, post-Brexit, economy-down-the toilet, world. We are all seeing sharp declines in audience numbers, shrinking and non-existent core funding opportunities and streaming providers driving shorter and shorter windows between theatrical and platform releases (the length of time a film is in cinemas only, before it arrives on streaming services). Multiplexes aren’t immune either and they are changing their business models to screen more small title films that would normally be the indie cinema’s bread and butter. It’s a complex picture where those of us trying to keep going feel like we are racing against the tide.

Like any Arts industry, the indie cinema circuit is run primarily by people who work long hours on pretty poor salaries because they love what they do and believe in the transformative power of the moving image. I don’t want to sound bitter, and I know it is absolutely never this simple, but I go to galleries funded by Arts Council England where there are sometimes scant visitors, but ACE understands that creating the opportunity to see radical and cutting edge art is a vital part of communities far outside the big city metropolis environment. We need the cinema funders to do the same thing. Cinemas are expensive to run and with the best will in the world, project funding from central agencies, brilliant and vital as it is, won’t keep our doors open.  

And, in my opinion, cinema touches us like almost no other artform. There are times when a film touches every electric nerve in your body.

I have had some of the best conversations of my life in an empty cinema, after the film is over, when you don’t want to leave that space for fear of losing the magic spark which ignited a connection with someone else. There are so many people who I have shared that with. I remember being stunned in my seat after watching Michael Haneke’s Amour and noticing one of our regulars was also still sitting there too. We stayed for half an hour, talking through our tears about how every frame of that film spoke to our own, different, experiences of grief and loss. It isn’t just the high-brow films either – anyone been to a screening of The Room and experienced that particular audience participation hysteria that only comes with watching a truly, tragically awful film with a crowd? Nothing connected me more directly to the crisis in Syria than the documentary, For Sama, which did what no news headline could ever do and showed me how extraordinarily brave humans can be in the face of unimaginable tragedy. There are so very many moments like this which will just disappear and where will we find them when all the cinemas are shut? 

If you are someone who used to go the your local indie cinema, if you haven’t been for a while because life is busy or you are out of the habit after the pandemic or you like to watch from the comfort of your settee, please, please don’t be complacent. Cinemas need you right now. Not next week, not after Christmas. Right now. Without you coming to buy a ticket (and our PAC tickets are really cheap) and maybe a glass of wine, we will all be closing our doors sooner than you think and then what?

Here’s what’s on, we’d love to see you soon.

Anna Navas Director and Film Programmer

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We recognise that people are struggling financially at the moment. Here at Plymouth Arts Cinema we are also finding things challenging. However, as we move into the darker evenings and the cost of living crisis is starting to bite, we don’t want people to break the habit of coming to the cinema because it’s something they can no longer afford. There’s no better way to watch a film than to make an event of it and see it on the big screen, with an audience.

Other ways in which we are keeping cinema tickets affordable are: tickets for The French Film Festival, British Art Show 9 and Season of the Witch films are £5 each, we have a free event with Plymouth and Popcorn, and you can get free tickets for Funny Pages, Flux Gourmet, Decision to Leave and Living if you subscribe to MUBI GO.

The support of our customers means everything to us, so please continue to visit the cinema, and to tell your friends and colleagues that we need their support more than ever.

Thank you

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To mark Volunteers’ Week 2022, we asked them for their stories: why they volunteer at PAC, and what it means to them. We will all be getting together to watch a film and celebrate their kind support in a few weeks’ time!

We would like to thank all of our volunteers, whether they have been helping out for 44 years or 4 weeks.

Michael Brophy I can’t remember exactly when started volunteering at the Arts Cinema, or the Arts Centre, as it was then known. If I were to guess, I’d say it was about a decade ago. I definitely remember it was before the first Hobbit movie was released. Ushering at the Arts Cinema, to me, means being exposed to films I wouldn’t see otherwise and having that entertainment once a week.

Sascha Von Lieven-Knapp I have enjoyed the eclectic range of films and amiable atmosphere of the Arts Cinema since arriving in Plymouth a few years ago and was lucky enough join the team as a volunteer usher recently.  Being able to watch films from Sudan, the Middle East, Iceland, Japan and many other places around the world locally is just amazing. And who’d have thought that you can watch films in a Lido at night with the sea right next to you?  Organisations like Plymouth Arts Cinema need all the support they can get to continue and thrive – giving a bit of my time and becoming a tiny cog in the team is definitely worth it.

Allen Pollock Allen Pollock is our longest serving usher, having started in 1978, and is a self confessed film buff, watching around 450 films a year.

You can read an interview with him here:

https://plymouthartscinema.org/a-chat-with-allen-our-cinema-usher-since-1978/

Watch a video of his memories of cinema in Plymouth through the years here: https://plymouthartscinema.org/plymouth-cinema-memories/

Flora The first thing I did when I arrived from France to Plymouth, was to find an Arts Centre. Indeed, films have always been a passion of mine, especially foreign ones (French, Italian, Greek, German, Scandinavian…etc) as well as quirky British ones.

I have been a volunteer for a few years now, mainly working at the reception in Looe Street, as well as ushering. I witnessed many changes, new Directors, met friendly and even “crazy” customers, other volunteers and staff (some being quite “bonkers” themselves). No names supplied!

It has been a very interesting experience working in the old building: I was even caught in a “hold up” when 2 drug addicts decided to rob the till one early evening. They partially succeeded by nearly emptying the till, although, while running out to escape the building they dropped a few notes and some cheques on the floor! From a counselling place I had to attend, I received a small alarm (lasting a month) as well as a long lasting bulb:  to this day, I never understood why?! … Three weeks later, I also went to the police: I was given a huge book full of ID photos (quite old) in order to recognize the possible culprits. After one hour of looking at so many pictures, I said to the police that everyone could have been guilty. (they were not too impressed with my performance…)

…But a good enough scenario for an Arts Centre !

Siobhan Breslin I have volunteered with the Plymouth Arts Cinema for over 15 years after being a regular to the cinema as a customer back when it was in its original building.

I’ve continued to volunteer as I love that I’m supporting the local Arts and also that, as a reward for that, I am able to watch a new film each week. The films at the Arts Centre are always thought provoking, whether it’s because I loved them or hated them, and that’s what the arts should do, provoke an emotion.  I love that we have our regulars who come week after week, which allow relationships to build and that the paid staff are so dedicated to their roles. I look forward to every Wednesday evening.  What’s not to love….

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