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April 3rd 2020

Spotlight on... The Prince Charles Cinema

Spotlight on... The Prince Charles Cinema

During these trying and uncertain times, we hope to be able to spread a little bit of love and movie magic by showcasing some of the wonderful exhibitors that we work with. This piece will be the first in a series which will hopefully help to tide us over until we're back together in cinemas again - and remind us of why film is so special.

Paul Vickery talks about the importance of the big screen experience, audience engagement and more.

Tell us a little more about you and your cinema.

I’m Paul Vickery, Head of Programming for The Prince Charles Cinema. The Prince Charles Cinema is the last, remaining single-site independent cinema in the West End of London. We operate under many different guises. To some we’re a Repertory House, showing everything from the vintage classics - Casablanca, Breathless, The Godfather, Seven Samurai - to the more modern ones - Goodfellas, Pulp Fiction, The Matrix - from the weirdly obscure to the criminally under-seen, all presented with the exact same ethos. Love.

We’re unpretentious in our love of cinema; we give The Grand Illusion the same platform we give The Notebook. Cats right next to Au Hasard Balthazar. We love them all!

Also tucked within the ‘Repertory’ side of the programme are our All Night Movie Marathons, Double & Triple Features, Sing-Alongs, Quote Alongs and Mystery Movies. Outside of our repertory programme, we offer up New Releases; historically these would all be ‘off-release’, but as the industry has evolved and changed we have been able to bring more on-date titles, and give homes to films which would’ve otherwise been under served in the West End, which has been a wonderful part of the programme to expand upon. So in short; we do a little bit of everything.

Can you tell us your earliest cinematic memory?

I grew up in a very musical household so my passion for cinema came a little later than I’d like to admit - but when it came it was like a bolt of lighting to the heart. The date - 16 July 1993 . The film - Jurassic Park.

I was 11 years old, sat in the front row of the ABC cinema in Romford, and from the moment John Hammond uttered the immortal words “Welcome… to Jurassic Park". I was hooked.

I remember squeezing my Dad’s hand so tightly when we were first introduced to the cast of dinosaurs who’d soon shape my entire world. I was terrified and in awe. Nothing I had experienced up to this point in my life had had such an all-consuming power over me. From then on I knew I wanted to work in whatever environment was responsible for bringing this image to the screen and into my life.

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Jurassic Park (1999) Image courtesy of Universal

Why do you think the collective cinema experience is so important for audiences?

It's tough to think of one singular reason why I think the big-screen experience is so important for audiences as I think the reason is made up of a million very different, very personal reasons which inevitably join together to form a unified shared experience.

The reason the big-screen is so important for me - which has been highlighted during this time we’re currently in - is refuge. It’s the one place that I can escape the world around me, tune out, switch my phone off, and engage with something without distraction or guilt. It clears my head whilst simultaneously filling it with an entire new world for me to experience. It breathes new life into my thought processes and revitalises my soul.

What do you take into consideration when programming for the cinema?

Our programme is always in conversation, under review & ever evolving. When we start to put new ideas together, we tend to take a look at the past six to twelve months and asses what areas of film we feel we may have missed or under screened. That can be genre, year, region of production. Basically anything we think we should have in the programme but didn’t.

We then take into account the 100s and 100s of customer submitted requests (we have an on-site request board which does bring some great ideas to our programme) and slowly piece things together.

The current global situation is having a huge impact on all of us across the film industry. What are the plans for the PCC family to maintain connection with their passionate audiences during these difficult times?

The day we closed the doors to the cinema hit us all a little harder than we expected. We all went in positively, reminding each other constantly that this decision was “for now” and not “forever”, but that worry still creeps in there - and because of the initial focus was not on our audience, but our team. We made sure they had assurances and support to help them through this, and the response to our closure was met with nothing but unity, love and support not just from the entire team affected but from cinema-goers from around the world. We were inundated with Tweets, Facebook posts, Instagram posts, emails - it brought tears to our eyes to see it. It showed we had something to fight for, to return to, which has given us such a continual lift as we navigate this period of our history.

Our main objective from an audience perspective is to make sure they know we’re still here and continuing to hold onto hope for a bright future; we continue to check in on social media, speak to those who miss us and sharing any updates we have. As the weeks move on we’ll be doing some more fun things to keep folks engaged with us, in ways which are a little ‘different’, whilst also making sure our Front of House and Duty Management team have a voice too.

We have just set up a Spotify playlist series called Foyer Playlist . This is a series of playlists curated by our front of house staff ad they pick all the tunes that play in our foyer.

Our emails will also be a far more relaxed tone as they focus on sharing fun bits and pieces rather than selling tickets - along with updates and some spotlights on the creative endeavours of our FOH & Duty Management team.

One of our first highlights was for a photographyzine created by one of our team, Dusty Keeney. The first issue of her Witness!zine launched last week so we’ve supported getting that news out there.

There will be more to come, so I would advise anyone who wants to stay in touch with us check our socials, sign up to our mailing list and send their positive vibes our way.

You can also support if you are able whilst the cinema is shut by purchasing memberships or or gift vouchers.

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This iconic independent venue in London, United Kingdom is patiently awaiting the return of its audiences.