The National Media Museum is delighted to announce two major events in the film calendar for 2015.
In a significant boost for the cinema operation in partnership with Picturehouse, the museum is upgrading its IMAX facility to a digital system. This will dramatically increase the number of new releases it can display on what will still be the largest screen in Yorkshire. Later in the year, Widescreen Weekend (15–18 October 2015) makes a welcome return to celebrate the best of cinema technology past and present.
The upgrade to the IMAX Digital Xenon Theatre System will result in more IMAX releases at the museum and a better big screen experience for audiences. Just two of the films expected to receive wide release in IMAX theatres in 2015 include the 24th Bond film, Spectre, and the first film in the new Star Wars franchise, The Force Awakens.
Works to improve the theatre will take place over several months and the aim is to have the new upgraded system up and running in the summer. The theatre will be closed for a period of roughly eight weeks while the work to replace the screen and the projection equipment—installed in 1999—takes place.
The National Media Museum is also delighted to announce the return of Widescreen Weekend. This unique festival of large-screen formats celebrates the past, present and future of film through its extraordinary array of widescreen technologies and will take place between 15–18 October in the museum’s world-class Pictureville theatre. The festival has moved from its recent spring slot to autumn as part of the museum’s complete overhaul of its film festivals.
The festival will be delivered by the National Media Museum with input and support from our partners, Picturehouse Cinemas. The full programme of events, guests and screenings will be announced later in the year, but already confirmed is the Student Widescreen Film of the Year competition in partnership with the British Kinematograph, Sound and Television Society (BKSTS), and the latest in our 60th anniversary celebrations—after Cinerama (2012), CinemaScope (2013) and VistaVision (2014)—as we profile the wide gauge 70mm format ‘Todd-AO’.
Jo Quinton-Tulloch, Director of the National Media Museum, said:
“The announcements we’re making today show this museum’s fundamental commitment to cinema and to the City of Film. Upgrading the IMAX theatre is part of our promise to improve the cinema operation at the museum through our partnership with Picturehouse Cinemas—and crucial to us achieving our ambition to be the place in Yorkshire to see film. The return of Widescreen Weekend is very exciting indeed. It’s a completely unique festival and, with its focus on cinema technologies past and present, one that only this museum can deliver.”
Gary Verity, Chief Executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, said:
“These are exciting plans and they will take the National Media Museum’s IMAX experience on to a whole new level—effectively going from one or two feature films a year to one or two a month. This is a clear statement of intent for the long-term development of this iconic and famous museum and forms part of wider plans to move the attraction forward and drive up visitor numbers.”
The improvements to the IMAX theatre are being made possible through a DCMS pilot scheme to make loan funding available for museums to invest in approved projects to develop new business models and commercial income streams. Full details on the temporary closure of the IMAX theatre for these improvements will be announced shortly.
ENDS
Notes FOR Editors
About Picturehouse Cinemas
Formed in 1989 to challenge the multiplex model, Picturehouse Cinemas own and operate 20 cinemas and programme a further 42 venues across the UK.
Picturehouse Cinemas are located in city centres and are architecturally unique venues that provide café bars, restaurants and live events alongside the traditional movie-going experience. Their programmes encompass quality mainstream, family, arthouse, independent, foreign-language and documentary films. Picturehouse Cinemas were a pioneer of live satellite cine-casts in the UK, bringing non-film content such as Q&As and talks, concerts, art exhibitions, the New York Met Opera, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and the Bolshoi Ballet to community cinema screens.
Picturehouse Cinemas have a distribution arm, Picturehouse Entertainment, which has distributed both feature films and alternative content to cinemas in the UK and internationally since its launch in 2010. Recent theatrical releases include BAFTA winner The Imposter, Shane Meadows’ The Stone Roses: Made of Stone, Ben Wheatley’s A Field in England, Jeremy Saulnier’s acclaimed thriller Blue Ruin, Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard’s Nick Cave docu-drama 20,000 Days On Earth, Randall Wright’s documentary Hockney, and the forthcoming Dark Horse: The Incredible True Story of Dream Alliance, directed by Louise Osmond. Picturehouse Entertainment is also the distributor of seasons from the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Bolshoi Ballet, and one-off events such as the V&A’s David Bowie is happening now, Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary episode and Monty Python Live (Mostly), beamed from the O2 to more than 570 cinemas in the UK and 2,000 worldwide.
