Community: Kings Heath Community Cinema


Fed up with cavernous multiplexes showing big budget blockbusters? Fancy a timeless classic or a thought-provoking independent film in a traditional setting? Then Kings Heath Community Cinema is for you!

In 2012, Kings Heath Village Square (KHVS) consulted with people in the area and discovered a demand for a local film club. A 2.5m screen was set up in All Saints church and the first film shown, just before Christmas 2012, was festive favourite ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’.

Since then, there’s been a different feature every month, drawing between 50 and 100 people each time, and audiences are continuing to grow.

“Some people were wary at first,” explains Tessa Burwood, who was employed by KHVS to get the cinema project off the ground. “They thought that, because it was in a church, it was in some way connected to religion, but it really isn’t. I love that we’ve shown irreverent films like ‘Some Like It Hot’ in this big, old fashioned space. We always have an interval with a licenced bar, so people can get a drink and chat to each other about the film. It’s very much a community event. It’s very different to the multiplex experience.”

Tessa is Director of cultural production company Professional Incredibles and no longer works for KHVS, but she continues to manage the project in her own time. Cultural exchange programme Espirito Brum ran a number of the film nights over the summer, and Tessa hopes that film fans, arts organisations or local businesses will eventually take over the reins. 

The next screening will be war torn love story Casablanca, showing at 6pm on Saturday 15th February - a perfect Valentine treat. If you’d like to know more, or are interested in running a film night yourself, visit KHCC's Facebook page or email Tessa.

(Published in 'My Moseley and Kings Heath' February 2014)

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