The popular village film club, known as Youlgrave Cinema, was formed in 2002 and continues to flourish with over 100 members enjoying monthly screenings at Youlgrave Village Hall.  Thanks to funding from the Countryside Agency, the Leader+ Access project and Derbyshire Rural Community Council, the club has purchased its own projection equipment, including a superb 14ft wide screen and digital projector with a special long-throw lens.

Opening night in 2002

It’s very much second time around for Youlgrave Cinema, since from the early 1920s to the 1950s films were shown at the Village Hall three or four times a week.  Hard to imagine in this high-tech communication age maybe, but back then villagers relied on their local ‘picture house’ for news and entertainment from the wider world, and Youlgrave Cinema screened to packed and enthusiastic audiences.

Today’s Youlgrave Cinema still uses the original projection box at the back of the hall, and there are even a few older members of our club who still sit in more or less the same seats as they did half a century ago!

The view from the projection box

In autumn 2007 the film club launches its fifth season of films, with a packed and varied programme of top quality movies.  We have always aimed to be a community film club, inclusive and welcoming all-comers (you don’t have to live in Youlgrave to be a member).  However, we go out of our way to show a range of films that will not only entertain but will also amuse, provoke and intrigue, including at least one foreign language film each season.  Film night in Youlgrave is a sociable and enjoyable occasion, so that we always have a short film (sometime locally-made) to start with, an intermission so that the village sub-postmaster can serve up ice creams, then after the main feature the audience is invited to stay behind for a chat over a glass of wine.

Each season we try and hold at least a couple of matinees that are open to the general public.  In the past we have put on children’s films, as well as regular ‘golden oldies’ on Saturday afternoons (including Casablanca, Passport to Pimlico and Kind Hearts and Coronets) that are very popular with our older residents.

2007- 08 season

Among the headline films coming up over the next year is THE QUEEN, featuring an Oscar-winning turn from Dame Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II during the time of Princess Diana’s death, as well as the highly-rated re-make of CASINO ROYALE starring Daniel Craig as the new James Bond.

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE is a recent comedy about a family’s hilarious cross-country journey in a VW bus as they strive to get their young daughter to the finals of a beauty pageant.  October’s film is TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD starring Gregory Peck, the 1962 adaptation of Harper Lee’s classic book about racial prejudice in the American Deep South.

We also travel overseas with IL POSTINO, a delightful film from Italy about a postman and poetry.  BABEL is an Oscar-winning film starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, and tells the interlocking story of four different families in separate parts of the world.

And of course we ride into town with Clint Eastwood in THE UNFORGIVEN, an impressive Western from the 1990s that also features Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman.  Also look out for THE STATION AGENT, a comedy/drama that proves loneliness is much better to bear when you have someone else to share it with.

Membership

As before, to see the films you have to become a member of Youlgrave Cinema (or come along as a pre-booked guest of a member).  Prices have stayed the same as last season, so that at £28 for eight films (working out at just £3.50 per film) you not only get a short film before the main feature but also free film notes!

The films will all be screened at Youlgrave Village Hall on the dates below.  If you would like to join Youlgrave Cinema please contact Val Cornish (Secretary) on 01629 636420, email v.cornish@virgin.net or Pat Cleaver (Treasurer) on 01629 636836, email youlgravecinema@hoptontower.waitrose.com.

2007

7 September; Little Miss Sunshine

5 October: To Kill a Mockingbird

2 November: Il Postino

7 December: Casino Royale

2008

8 February: Babel

7 March: The Station Agent

11 April: The Unforgiven

9 May: The Queen