April 2015 Edition 3

Selsey Cinema Club Really Takes Off
Selsey Cinema Club is celebrating multiple successes, after receiving a double-dose of funding and support for
the work it does in the community.
Established in response to resident’s feedback that they wanted a cinema in the town, the club has been
running since October 2013, screening movies for locals once a fortnight. In that time audiences have steadily
increased as word about the Cinema Club has spread. Now the club, which is run by Selsey Town Council has
won a number of significant grants to help expand its services.
Funding from West Sussex County Council and the British Film Institute (BFI) Neighbourhood Cinema
programme has enabled the group to acquire and install its own equipment. This has given them much
greater flexibility to increase the number of performances that they can screen. As a result the group is now
hosting a regular young person’s film club, run in conjunction with local youth charity, Youth Dream. Young
people are responsible for programming, marketing and screening the films and learn valuable skills in the
process. The Cinema Club are also planning to launch a lunchtime film club for older and vulnerable residents,
where they can enjoy a hot meal, a film and some much needed companionship.
In another exciting development, the Cinema Club is putting on Selsey’s first ever Film Festival. Titled How
Soon is Now? and running from April 10th-25th, it has been made possible by generous funding from Film
Hub South East. The festival is a carefully selected programme of sci-fi classics, all of which seemed very ahead
of the times they were made in, and all of which presented a series of bewildering visions of the future.
Sam Tate, Selsey Town Co-ordinator and organiser of the Cinema Club commented, “We are very grateful to
Film Hub South East for supporting us and allowing us to experiment with screening films that we would not
normally risk programming. From Things to Come, made in 1936, before the start of WWII and full of fears of
humanity destroying itself in a catastrophic arms race, through to the most recent film we are showing, Never
Let Me Go which questions the very notions of what it is that makes us human, the films we are showing
have been chosen to provoke thought and debate, to reflect and enlighten us as much about where we have
come from as where we are going. But before this all sounds too heavy going and ponderous, they have all
been chosen because fundamentally they are really cracking,
entertaining and enjoyable films. They are examples of cinema
at its best, full of ideas and possibilities, transporting us to
futures we can only dream of.”
You can find out more information and book tickets at the
festival website www.howsoonisnowselsey.wordpress.com
About Selsey Cinema Club
Selsey Cinema club is run by Selsey Town Council, and screens
movies twice a month on a Monday evening in the Town Hall.
The Cinema Club was established in response to a number of
residents surveys which all indicated there was a need for a
Cinema in the Town. In the past 18 months as well as regular
Monday night screenings, the Cinema Club has put on a
number of community events such as free Christmas movies on
Saturdays mornings throughout the holiday period, and a free
Frozen sing-along.
For more information, please visit the website
www.selseycinemaclub.wordpress.com
or call Sam Tate, Selsey Town Co-ordinator
on 01243 605803