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Film club comes to Birmingham

May 10 2012
Christoph Warrack: A dream come true. ?Ǭ© Shooting People Ltd Christoph Warrack: A dream come true. ?Ǭ© Shooting People Ltd
Open Cinema has opened Birmingham’s first community cinema for homeless and vulnerable people

 

Open Cinema has opened Birmingham’s first community cinema for homeless and vulnerable people.

Launching last month and residing at SIFA Fireside, a frontline support service for homeless people in the city that works in partnership with national homelessness charity Crisis, the network has arrived to bring various seasons of film throughout the year. The unique collaboration between the four organisations aims to bring both educational and cultural cinema to a socially excluded audience across the city. The theme of the first 12 week season of screenings, “The Future is Now: Man & Technology,” was programmed by SIFA Fireside’s participants with support from Open Cinema and Open University.

Film industry professionals, including the producers of the Academy Award-nominated Hell and Back Again, join OU lecturers in visiting the film club to introduce films, and also lead post-film discussions. Open Cinema, founded in 2005, is a social enterprise and national network of film clubs programmed by and for homeless and socially excluded people. The nationwide network has received praise and interest from various worldwide media including Italian Vogue, the Times and the BBC.

Speaking about the initiative, Christoph Warrack, Open Cinema’s CEO, said: “This is a dream come true, to be able to connect our participants in frontline support services with the expertise of the Open University, on the platform of cinema.”

Chris High, a lecturer at the Open University, added: “We’re delighted to be supporting this initiative. It’s true to our mission to promote educational opportunity and social justice, and a great opportunity to put our expertise to good use.”

You can find Birmingham’s Open Cinema at SIFA Fireside, 48-52 Allcock Street, Birmingham, B9 4DY. Showings take place every Wednesday afternoon at 1.15pm until 13 June. Have you been to one of the screenings?

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