The one thing I missed when I moved from the north to Southsea was the good old Arts Centre where things happened. It was a place near where I lived that I performed at as a teenager and went to music gigs as well as theatre and drama, so to hear that the Portsmouth Film Society was opening an independent cinema with an arts centre in the heart of Southsea was very exciting news! Welcome to the Southsea Community Cinema and Arts Centre based at 1-3 Palmerston Road.
Pop down and see the work involved in creating this cultural space that will have a great community spirit and include children and different groups to make this an inclusive space! With a programme of parent and toddler film sessions and a school youth programme in place it will be exciting to see this cinema flourish.
In showcasing this amazing configurable cinema space, meeting rooms with kitchen facilities, photography, and film capability, it means it can engage with the community to gain input on how to evolve film and educational programmes as well as develop the space to best suit the needs of local artists and customers. Offering a diverse cinema programme that features a variety of genres to appeal to people of all ages with matinees and daily evening screenings funded by the British Film Institute (BFI) means this will put Southsea on the map!
Members will be able to enjoy twice-weekly private parties with Independent world films like Drive My Car (2021-Japanese) the first foreign film to win Best Film of the Year Oscar and an eclectic mix of offbeat films starting with the first of two archive films being shown in collaboration with the regional film archive Wessex Film and Sound Archive. Caught in the Act is a late silent crime fiction film from the 1930s made by the Bournemouth Cine Club and Portsmouth Cine Club, part of the original long-running Portsmouth Film Society. It will be accompanied with live music.
Cult Curious? A special weekly event taking you back in time showcasing cult films spanning different eras and countries. Find out what these obscure, offbeat and outrageous films say about the zeitgeist of their place and time in history. Film hosts will share why these movies bombed at the box office yet slowly garnered a steadfast legion of fans and influence modern mainstream cinema. You can chat afterwards with refreshments in the new cafe to discuss why you share a similar interest in these quirky masterpieces. Selected films La Haine (1995), Videorome (1981), Wake in Fight (1970), Naked (1993) and Freaks (1932)
The Green Film Festival programme kicks off with three international films with strong messages regarding environmental issues confronting us today.
Listening to Aysegul Epengin the director of Portsmouth Film Society she said “After years of painstakingly searching for a home for Portsmouth Film Society, I naively dropped myself into what now seemed like a herculean task of overseeing the conversion of a dilapidated bank into this beautiful cinema. A dream come true.”
Southsea Community Cinema and Arts Centre along with its cafe will be open from 10 am -9pm 7 days a week! You can contact them at admin@southseacinema.co.uk or 07528 808400 to discuss the hiring of the cinema or education/conference room for meetings, classes, and private parties to watch your own favourite films and videos in a cinema setting. The team have begun accepting venue hire booking from local writers and festivals.
For the complete cinema listings and to find out about the outdoor Sunset film program, the first in Portsmouth, see below.
