Colinsburgh Community Cinema www.colinsburghcommunitycinema.co.uk started over two and a half years ago as an idea between four friends, Peter Marshall the coordinator, Pete Rabjohns the technician and projectionist, Sue Rabjohns, the Secretary and Marion Howie treasurer.
Colinsburgh Community Cinema is a completely voluntary non-profit making organisation based in the village of Colinsburgh in the East Neuk of Fife, which has a population of 252 people. It is a rural area traditionally employed in farming and fishing although tourism has taken over from fishing. Colinsburgh Community Cinema has a membership of 57 and shows 15 films a year from Sept through to May. Membership is £30 a year starting in Sept and thereafter £20 in January . Non-members pay £4 on the door and they do a block group discount price for over ten people at £3 per head. Last year they had 582 through the door an average of 38.8 and the annual membership for 2010 was 57 members. Their average attendance at a screening is 50 people. The venue for the screenings is the Colinsburgh Town Hall which the village owns and they also screen in the reading room in the library on occasion. They project from DVD and Blue-Ray onto a 16 ft x 9ft screen which is very impressive and they have a Panasonic projector 5,500 lumen and use digital surround speakers – using three speakers at the front due to the acoustics of the hall. The equipment is state of the art and was bought through the Awards for All British Lottery Funds. Funding also came from Regional Screen Scotland and from Fife Council. Through this funding they also acquired very good stack away seating. The drawbacks are the sound in the Hall and not having proper blackout for the large Town Hall windows and they are working to improve this.
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The aims of Colinsburgh Community Cinema is that of recreating community and providing a social amenity as they are concerned about the loss of human contact through local amenities being phased out such as the post office closing down, library services being curtailed and local cinemas, pubs and restaurants closing with the advent of free market capitalism. The community cinema provides the opportunity for people to get out of their house, arrive early and meet other people and to see film as it should be seen on the big screen as there are no cinemas in the area. They see community cinema as facilitating people to see how other people live and broaden their perspective and that it enhances the social and cultural life of the community. They endeavour to satisfy their audience demand and show popular independent film, mainstream film, documentary, short film, films from local film makers. They are also involved in touring programmes such as the Middle Eastern film festival hosting a screening of” Cairo Station” which they intend to do on a yearly basis and and they will be part of the African Film Festival which is being organized by Stephanie Van de Part. They show thought provoking interesting films and whilst not having a creative agenda they do invariably show art house film. The Mid Eastern film event included food and music and was funded by Fife Council and they screened in nearby village of Crail as well. Pete Rabjohns has also been involved in film making with the Ha`Fest homegame away music festival
In the the East Nook of Fife. Between Aberdeen and Dundee 70 miles there is no cinema, Dundee in 25 miles away and this has an arthouse cinema.
Colinsburgh community cinema was the first community cinema to be set up in the area and since then they have helped set up 8 other community cinemas in places such Leven (the nearest big town 7 miles away with a population of 15,000), Crail, Glenrothes (given mention below), Lesley (for children), Milnathort, Newburgh North Queensbury and Burnt Island
The coordinator of the first Friday film club visited the Colinsburgh Community Cinema in 2010 with the idea of setting up a partnership with them and on that weekend they had their usual film screening on the 24th of September and screened “Crazy Heart”. This was also a celebratory occasion for them as they had just received the award for best Community Cinema from the British Federation of Film Societies BFFS for the aforementioned work they are doing in setting up the community cinemas in the surrounding areas and for their film making work with young people- the Guerrilla Film School. In the afternoon there was a screening (for the judging panel) of the about 10 short listed films for the new Glenrothes Film Festival. Pete Rabjohns the projectionist was the also the organiser of the Film Festival. Glenrothes is a new town of 20,000 and their nearest cinema is an Odeon multiplex in Dunfermline some 20 miles away. Colinsburgh Community Cinema helped Gavin Howe set up the Glenrothes Community Cinema at the Rothes Halls in Glenrothes. Its target audience is young families and they get audiences of 200+. Entrance is £3 adults, £2 kids which means a family with two kids can see a film in their own backyard for the same price as one ticket at the multiplex 20 miles away. They do two screenings on a Sat one for the children in the afternoon and Saturday evening is for families. They have been given the Rothes Hall free for the first year. The aim of the Film Festival is to encourage young Scottish film makers and takes the form of a competition of short films rate U and 12 (i.e. family fare.) see www.glenrothesfilmfestival.co.uk.. Colinsburgh Community cinema has a web site www.colinsburghcommunitycinema.co.uk which has the programme for the first half of the year and details of the Guerrilla Film School that Pete Rabjohns and Pete Marshal run at the YMCA in Glenrothes for local teenagers on script writing and film making and I visited this the project whilst I was there and found it very inspirational in the approach that they had with the young people in encouraging their creativity in an informal and creative manner. The young people are very engaged and have great interest and whilst enjoying themselves learn important creative skills and given free reign to explore and be creative. Two of the young people from this programme have gone on to study film professionally at third level, which is testimony to the value of the programme.
Through our partnership with Colinsburgh Community Cinema we are intending screen a documentary in April that was recommended by them “Touching the Void”, a visually stunning film about mountain climbing in Peru, the camera man for this film was a local man from Pitttenweem in Fife. In Sept if not before then we will be showing a series of films from the Scottish Film Archive “The Island Tapes “ which they also recommended and a series of films which will have great resonance with audiences here in terms of language –Scots Gaelic -/heritage and social history. We will screen the films which are silent accompanied by a special CD soundtrack made especially for these archive films, consisting of four musicians one of them being a female scots gaelic singer see the www.islandtapes.com . These are two forthcoming events in 2010 that have resulted from our collaboration with Colinsburgh community cinema and seeing their way of working within local community has been very inspiring.
Granollers Cine club
http://www.acgranollers.com/cineclub
We have also established partnership with the Cultural Association of Granollers and the related Foundation Cultural Association (which centres on schools activities) through contact with Lambert Botey a member of the cineclub and the President of the Cineastes of Granollers(filmmakers of Granollers). Granollers is a city 25 Km from Barcelona in Catalonia and has a population of 60,000 people. The language of Catalonia is under threat from the increasing use of Spanish in the region with 60% of the people in Granollers now speaking Spanish though everyone understands Catalan.
The Cultural Association is an all volunteer cultural organisation founded in 1947 and Foundation Cultural Association has a paid coordinator and staff and volunteers. The Association began its Activities for Schools in 1982 and became formally Foundation Cultural Association in 2006 to bring art to children in the schools. They concentrate on activities such as musical productions, singing, theatre, dance, puppetry, cinema, art, drama and science with the schools in the region of the Valles Oriental and the Maresme Region. Drama is used to raise ethical, social and personal issues to help teachers to raise and start a topic in the classroom. Activities for Schools in 2007/2008 and recorded 116,337 spectators in the Vallès Oriental.. It is funded by the Councils, the schools and the greater region of Barcelona.They have a new rented office space. formerly a garage. It has open plan offices on the first floor and two large spaces at ground floor level which will make great performance and exhibitions spaces, so this is a new and exciting development for them. This aspect of the work with the schools produces profit for the Cultural Association of Granollers and allows them to undertake a lot of cultural work that would not get done otherwise
The Cultural Association as mentioned above began its activities in 1947 and organises cultural activities such as film screenings, conferences, recitals, concerts, theatre and exhibitions .The first cinematic screening was in 1950 when they screened Hamlet with Laurence Olivier in the Coliseum Cinema and in the first two decades 113 sessions are recorded in a number of venues. Between 1971 and 1980, 220 sessions are recorded, between 81-90 there were 355 sessions and 170 sessions in the years between 1991 and 2000. Between 2001 and 2009 445 films and 18 documentaries are recorded The Association has been a way over the years where an alternative creative voice could be expressed. This has become more important in recent times also with the closure of city centre cinemas and the advent of the multiplexes and commercial cinema in the outskirts of the city
The Cultural Association has a voluntary membership of 500 and annual membership is €42 per year and they also receive a council subvention. The cineclub is one of the number activities that operates under the umbrella of the Association. To attend a film screening it costs €3 for a member of the Association and €6 for a non member. Entrance is free for students who attend the Official School of Languages and members of the Alliance Francaise receive a discount for French films. They screen 3 times a week two screenings on the Friday evening and one on the Sunday evening and in addition to this they show a documentary each month. The films are screened in the Municipal Cultural Centre in the large theatre with seating for about 350 people which the Association rents for this and its other various activities. The building is very modern and also has large exhibition space. The cineclub has a core group of about 20 people who decide on an ongoing basis which films they will screen, there is no coordinator of the group and tasks are spread out amongst the group. It is the way that they get to watch the films that they want to see on the big screen in the city centre. Cineclub Granollers is a member of the Catalan Federation of film clubs (in the way that the first Friday film club is currently an associate member of access>CINEMA)
The Cultural Association of Granollers is involved in many different cultural activities:Namely The Granollers filmmakers, The Big Band of Granollers, The Study Centre- Awards and Scholarships, , The City Project , Collective Granolleig, Cultural Tours and Sunday Family entertainment shows.
1. Filmmakers of Granollers was established in 1995 and is managed by Lambert Botey and is funded by the City Council of Granollers. The filmmakers of the Cultural Association of Granollers celebrated the centenary of cinema in 1995 by the , by recovering many of the films made in the city from 1920 up until the eighties. They decided from this event to based on a theme and limited by time. These shorts are projected as a memorial to Ramon Dagà and other filmmakers. The theme for this years shorts 2010 was “Half” and last years theme 2009 was that of “The pleasure to the eye”. One these 2009 shorts “Heaven” by Lambert Botey will be screened during the year by the First Friday film club. It was screened on the 13th of Dec in the East Cork Film club in Cobh before their classic feature screening of the 39 Steps by Hitchcock and received a very good reception . We also hope to showcase more of this work in the latter part of the year.
2.The Big and of Granollers was established in 1994 and performs jazz band concerts for all an figure of Nora and animated images on the big screen to make the music more accessible and they also have accompanied group singing and soloist artists They also perform in public spaces
3. The Study Centre was established in 1952 as a section of the Cultural Association of Granollers and is involved in literary awards:
Through the Centre for Studies in Granollers and in agreement with the City of Granollers, AC awards the Joan Camp /John Fields Memorial Bursaries biannually of 5000 euro for a individuals contribution to studies in the region. The aim is to promote and disseminate research on the history, society, culture and environment of Granollers, the Vallès Oriental, and also promote debate on these issues. Since 1996, when it began a new phase, The Study Centre Granollers has published PONENCIES Conferences yearbook, the yearbook includes the four papers presented during the previous year, reports on activities and also includes ongoing work or studying little-known documents that help better understand the city and its local environment. The language of the conferences is Catalan
The second award is that of Premi Cami Ral. This is an award for students of secondary school from any educational institution to stimulate research and enhance studies, from different thematic areas (environment, history, economics, art and heritage), to improve the knowledge of the region. This award is given in partnership with the Department of Education of the City of Granollers, the Education Project of Granollers, Barcelona Provincial Council and Tecnopime.
The third award is that of the Literature Award Jaume Maspons i Safont named in memory of the Journalist Jaume Maspons (1956-2001). This is a journalistic award for satirical literature and was started in 2006. Its aim is to reward journalists who have excelled during the year for humour and satire on radio, television or newspaper articles.
4. City Projects
Under the generic title of city projects, the Cultural Association hosts a series of very different proposals. These concern initiatives that have arisen by spontaneous generation within groups of people more or less linked to culture but all the issues are concerned with the city and the quality of life for its citizens. There are four city projects listed below
a. The Council of Children
The Council of the Children is a group of children in upper primary education, representatives from all schools of Granollers, who meet one Friday a month to talk about the city.
This project aims to initiate debate on children and reflection on topics such as public transit, streets and squares, trees, bicycles, balls ...
B. POETS OF SERVICE
NIGHT OF POETRY
This takes place at the Rock Umbert Arts Factory- which I visited on my visit This event is a contemporary poetry reading by a group of poets.
C.Symposium "Design City" Asociación Cultural de Granollers since 1990 has scheduled debates which analyzes the city's role as a public space and community project to re-imagine a better city and the quality of the social space from different points.
D. Small, but citizens
A Forum to question the current development of the city and the needs of its individuals
5. Grannoleig is another initiative of the Association to look at aspects of the city which could be improved and consists of a combination of visual arts combined with poetry and an accompanying documentation of this work. Its aim is highlight and question areas of city life that are overlooked or forgotten about
6. Cultural Tours
The aim of this monthly initiative is to rediscover the natural and artistic heritage of the region with a playful nature, meeting with neighbours and friends of Granollers. Guided bus tours to different parts of the region for daily and longer extended trips
7. Family entertainment for the public
This is aimed at a family audience and happens every Sunday afternoon from October to Marc. This is sponsored by the City of Granollers, with the support of the Arts Promotion Office of the Provincial Council of Barcelona.
Other cultural facilities in and near Granollers.
1. La Garriga cineclub.This cineclub is a half an hours drive from Granollers a town of approx 16,000 population. It has approximately 60 members and has been running for the last 20 years. They have four venues in which they screen their films and events, one of which is the old Alhambra cinema which is in danger of being demolished by developers and also suffers from a lack of attendance as few people in Garriga attend commercial cinema preferring to watch DVDs at home. The other venues consist of a Church Hall with kitchen facilities, a municipal building which has a capacity for 100 people which they usually use. It is also possible to screen outdoors in this venue as the screen is reversible at the back and can be opened to the square outside. They have a fourth theatre venue and the latter two venues are free if they do not charge at the door but are free if they operate only by membership subscription. The cinema is us only occasionally as it is prohibitively expensive. An additional source of income is selling of state lottery tickets for five euro, one euro of which goes to the cineclub see website for more details. They have about 3 screenings per month and they have a yearly film festival.
2. The Museum of Granollers, Dec 2010 There was an exhibition on conceptual art exhibition of the seventies and all the various art forms of that time including the visual art of that period and the Happenings on the streets and surrounding areas. There was a section devoted to the filmmakers /cinema of that period, one of whom was Lambert Botey.
3.The Roca Umbert Factory which is now a municipal cultural facility housed in the old textile factory and is consist of the Roca Umbert Municipal Library with screening room, the Technology and University Audio Visual Centre, La Troca- a performance space to promote culture with traditional roots for (i.e. dancing and human towers), the Roca Umbert Bar and restaurant, The Cub -recording and rehearsal spaces for musicians, Space Arts - affordable short term studio spaces for young and emerging contemporary artists, and a building which at the moment has the first permanent artist`s studio for festival and set production. The building space of the former thread factory of the city is enormous and is in continuous development with new arts and cultural spaces being built continuously. The theatre space is be finished shortly and work has started on a performing and movement arts space (circus and dance) and a specific building for fairs, workshops and functions. It was very impressive. It is a project in continuous evolution and at present eight of the sixteen facilities planned for the public and professionals are fully operational
Regional partnership
East Cork Film Club
http://www.facebook.com/pages/East-Cork-Cinema-Club/191456562802
East Cork Cinema Club Cobh is based in the Great Island Community Centre and operates through Facebook. East Cork Cinema Club was set up in the Spring of 2009. Their main objectives are to bring back the cinematic experience to Cobh and its surrounding area, showing world movies not readily available on DVD Similar to ourselves they seek to nurture local film making talent by providing a platform for screening locally produced short films and similar projects. Another aim is to promote films from countries that would involve the international community. They also promote special screenings for children in the local hospital and promote general special screenings for children (animated and otherwise) on the occasional Saturday. Similar to ourselves it screens on a pull down screen from DVD format once per month on a Monday evening with special screenings throughout the year. They also have 'Golden Oldie' screenings in the local hospital for elderly patients, family and friends. Annual membership fee is €7. General admission on the night is €9 (€7 for members) with complimentary food and wine and two guests can accompany members at €7 per person
On Monday 13th of Dec the first friday film club screened the short film “Heaven” by Lambert Botey the President of the Granollers Cineastes filmmakers in the East Cork Cinema Club, Cobh in Cork. This short was part of a series made in 2009 called “The pleasure of the eye” It was screened before East Cork`s feature the “39 steps” a Hitchcock classic made in 1935 the same era in which the film “Heaven” is based, its theme is the bombing of Granollers in 1939.
