Pop-up cinemas are all the rage in Europe and North America – people opening up unusual venues and screening films on huge portable screens, or really any space they can.
Sometimes it is about showing a film that the regular cinemas won’t pick up, but more often it is about the cinema experience that is so lacking at the mall.
Rooftops, long-forgotten warehouses, farms. Anything goes as long as people get into the swing of it. Patrons come dressed up according to a specific movie theme, or not. Think: community-led cinema as the way of the future.
You can do it however you like and label it pop-up cinema, or you can go the totally organised route, as run by Dogwoof out of the UK – a film distributor for social issues and documentary feature films which they believe can inspire change. Several specific movies are available for screenings in SA.
Anyone can apply to screen films, check the rules at popupcinema.net DStv channel TCM is getting in on the action by hosting a screening of Back to the Future, tying into its TCM Select Channel which also screens the film later, on September 23. The whole point is to get people excited about old cult classics and the concept of going to the movies, so potential audience members are encouraged to dress up and wallow in the nostalgia.
The iconic 80s film features Michael J Fox as Marty McFly, who befriends the ultimate mad professor Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) over a shared love for loud sound. Doc sends Marty back in time in a DeLorean, where he meets his parents and makes film history.
Not only was the film a box office success when it was released back in 1985, but it was also critically acclaimed and spawned references galore, popping up in TV series such as Chuck and movies such as the Russell Brand Arthur remake.
For the Back to the Future Pop Up Cinema screening next week, the Hope Street Hall (14 Hope Street, the place where the City Bowl Market is held on a Saturday) will be transformed into the Hill Valley Town Hall from the movie, so expect a mix of 80s and 50s. Pacman versus Elvis anyone?
• Back to the Future screens on Wednesday, September 19, at 6.30pm. Register your attendance at
http://www.tcm europe.com/F/popupcinema/ Space is limited.
