In our ongoing efforts to spread a little bit of love and movie magic during these tumultuous times, to both inspire and provide some practical suggestions for when we will be continuing to showcase a range of the wonderful exhibitors with whom we work.
This week, we are following up on our very first COVID pandemic Spotlight On... interview, speaking to Paul Vickery of London's Prince Charles Cinema.
We wanted to see how lockdowns have treated them, lessons they have learned and their feelings about the future, and it's wonderful to see how optimistic their outlook is. Enjoy!
Park Circus: Looking back at the complicated (to say the least!) year behind us, what have you and Prince Charles learned about yourselves, your audiences, film exhibition, or cinema in general?
Prince Charles Cinema: It’s safe to say that this has been a year that many of us will happily throw into the archive with absolutely no intention of ever returning to it. But despite the absolute crushing sadness tied to so much of what’s happened, there have been many moments of positivity for us behind the curtain, as well as in front of it.
The biggest one for me has been witnessing how the entire body of staff has been supported and treated since we were forced to close our doors in March 2020.
The owners and staff manager have gone above and beyond to make sure that nobody was left behind and have navigated every step with full transparency; we were all made very are aware of the impact the pandemic is having on the business, we knew exactly what needed to be done to survive and most importantly, we knew that we could reach out for help to someone who actually cares.
Not that I haven’t been aware of such support being there prior to the pandemic; but this only furthers my belief that The Prince Charles Cinema is a wonderfully unique place, and one I am incredibly fortunate to be part of.
When we take a look beyond the curtain and towards those whose continued trips & never-ending support keeps our heart beating, one thing became abundantly clear very quickly; our community isn’t local, it’s national. It’s international.
Historically we’d always played down the idea of us being a community cinema because that distinction is largely reserved for sites whose audiences live within walking distance, and with us being in the centre of town that’s simply not the case for the vast majority of people who visit.
But what we’ve learned is that that doesn’t matter at all, not one bit. We’ve had supportive emails from folks in London, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Glasgow, Dublin as well as the US, Canada, France, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Australia, Spain and Indonesia [to name but a few].
Our community is not a group of people defined by where they live, they’re unified by what they love; and they love going to cinema.
It was their continued assurances and support that helped calm the moments fear and panic we felt through the summer, especially when the broader conversation within the industry seemed to focus on this being the beginning of the end of what we all know to be the theatrical experience.
We were understandably still a little nervous to announce our initial re-opening plans; there was still the huge matter of the virus to deal with.
So before we started planning our programme we felt we had a greater obligation to address any concerns our staff and customers may have had regarding our reopening.
We’d obviously be adhering to all the required Government Health & Safety Guidelines; mandatory wearing of face masks, hand-sanitiser stations, safety screens, social distancing - but we were constantly asking ourselves what more could we do? How can we go above and beyond?
Armed with our team of Coronavirus-Killing air-purifiers (which not only clean the air but kill 99.6% of all airborne virus’. Including Covid-19), a pair of incredibly socially distanced screens and total overhaul of our Health & Safety procedures, it was time to finalise that re-opening programme.
Up first was Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey presented from 70mm – a true CINEMA EXPERIENCE, one which is near impossible to replicate at home.
Within 24 hours of announcing the shows we were seeing performances marked as SOLD OUT. We were back, and so was our audience.
Part of that reason we saw such high demand out of the gate was due to the continued dialogue we’d had with our audience all Summer; we had a loooong list of requests and used them a jumping off point when putting the full programme together. And it worked.
We announced further PCC favourites such as The Thing, The Shining, Cinema Paradiso, and The Princess Bride, one-off 35mm presentations of The Green Ray, Goodfellas, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, brand new films from Sofia Coppola and Miranda July – On the Rocks and Kajillioinaire – and and the return of the BFI London Film Festival!
By the time we were re-opened our doors in October, we had sold over 6,000 tickets for shows due to take place through to the end of December. We couldn’t have asked for more!
When looking towards the future of cinema we’ve also found ourselves sucked in by the many discussions stating “cinema’s dead”, “the theatrical experience is over” and “streaming is the final nail in the coffin of cinema as we know it”, but that wasn’t what we witnessed with our two re-openings.
The appetite for cinema and the theatrical experience hadn’t passed. Of course on a broader scale it’ll soften for a while – people are scared and people have greater concerns at the moment – but people haven’t turned their back on cinema.
They’re just waiting for when the time feels right for them to return, and when that time comes we’ll be there to welcome them back with a smile [behind our masks] and a socially distanced high five with a slate of films that’ll be totally worth making the trip into town for.
The Shining (1980)
PC: As we step into 2021, how is PCC continuing its excellent work of engaging audiences? What do you have planned for or are looking forward to in the upcoming months?
PCC: With this lockdown things feel a little different.
We’ve actually started 2021 by slowing things down a bit to give the team and our audience some space and time to put more energy into the things that are more immediately important.
Having been through two re-openings now, our audience have helped instil a certain amount of confidence that when we can return so will they.
We’ve actually been rescheduling shows rather than piece an entirely new programme together, which takes the edge off the urgency regarding future plans – of course we have bits and pieces to announce, but we’re keeping those cards very close to our collective chest until we’re more confident of a re-opening date.
From a business perspective, being one of the fortunate recipients of the BFI DCMS Culture Recovery Fund certainly helps too – we’re not out of the woods just yet, but the financial burden isn’t quite as heavy as it was on the eve of the first national lockdown which means our stress levels are much more manageable.
We’ll obviously continue to keep in touch with our audience – regular email updates, tweets & the like will be less frequent but will continue to happen – and I believe we’re bringing back the Recreate the Frame competition.
This was by far the most fun we had whilst were closed last summer, and as we find ourselves in another open-ended period of lockdown we think it’s the ideal time-filler for those with a love of film and a bit of craftiness about them.
Kajillionaire (2020)
What film are you most excited to screen when you reopen?
It’s one of those films that feels like an old friend has entered the room the instant it starts. And it’s easy to understand why; the film itself may feel pretty low-key it it’s execution, but its influence on film & television cannot be understated.
Its familiarity is due to elements of it’s DNA being present in so much of what I have loved in recent years.
Girlfriends (1978)
