Plymouth Arts Cinema Announces Summer of Open Air Cinema at Tinside Lido and The Box

Chris Wharton

Plymouth’s independent cinema has announced a programme of Open Air Cinema events through July, August and September. This year, films will be shown at the spectacular waterside location of Tinside Lido, and at Tavistock Place, in an exciting new collaboration with The Box.

Director and Film Programmer Anna Navas said, “We are so happy to be able to run Open Air Cinema again this year. It feels like just the treat we all need - there's nothing better than watching a film under the stars with your friends. We are celebrating with a programme that really does include the best that cinema has to give, from the Hollywood greats to cult classics. We are also delighted to be working with The Box to screen a series of gems from the archive.”

A museum-themed weekend will take place from the 29th – 31st July, with recent critically-acclaimed film Ammonite, telling the story of pioneering fossil-hunter Mary Anning, and Bringing Up Baby, a pure Hollywood classic with a missing dinosaur bone as a plot device!

It wouldn’t be Open Air Cinema at Tinside without a screening of Jaws, and the classic shark movie will be joined by Wes Anderson’s sublime, quirky, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou and Cornish filmmaker Mark Jenkin’s cult hit Bait, from 20th – 22nd August.

The second weekend at Tinside, from 2nd – 4th September, will be all about coming together with friends, with Some Like it Hot, the dazzling romantic comedy starring Marilyn Monroe, feelgood Beatles musical Yesterday, and a 30th anniversary screening of the iconic Thelma and Louise.

Each screening will begin with a brief programme of archive films and short films, as Plymouth Arts Cinema and The Box unearth footage of Plymouth in days gone by, and showcase the local filmmaking talent of today.

Priority booking is available to PAC Members from 1pm on Friday 9th July. Tickets go on general sale at 1pm on Tuesday 13th July. Tickets are £12/ £10.80 for PAC Friends/ £8 for ages 12 and under.

Plymouth Arts Cinema has also unveiled a list of local organisations and businesses across Plymouth who will be kindly providing sponsorship for the events: Plymouth College of Art, Plymouth Marjon University, Eco Environmental Bird Control Specialists, Plymouth Citybus, Summerskills Brewery, Burts Snacks, Chris Kallis Solicitors, The Muscle Clinic Massage Therapy, National Marine Aquarium, The Box, Plymouth City Council, The National Lottery/ BFI FAN.

Burt's Snacks will be providing an extra treat for all ticket holders, with a free packet of crisps when they arrive.

Summerskills Brewery said: “We are delighted that the Open Air Cinema is able to go ahead this year and are very happy to be a sponsor to the Plymouth Arts Cinema again.”

Plymouth College of Art said “The world needs creatives now more than ever, which is why we're thrilled to support Plymouth Arts Cinema in bringing back their Open Air Cinema. Events like these are exactly what the South West needs to inspire the next wave of local filmmakers.”

Artwork by Chris Wharton

Programme details provided by the Cinema:

Prices

- Tickets are £12/ £10.80 for PAC Friends/ £8 for ages 12 and under.

- We will provide chairs.

- No further discounts apply.

- Online booking fee: £1.50 per transaction.

Booking and ticket collection

- Advance booking is strongly recommended as these events sell out.

- Tickets go on general sale on our website and at our Box Office at 1pm on Tuesday 13th July. Booking will be online only from 23rd July.

- Priority booking is available to PAC Members from 1pm on Friday 9th July.

- Door sales on the night will be subject to availability. We recommend bringing cash.

- If you opted to collect your tickets at our Box Office: until Thursday 22 July, you can collect your tickets from the Plymouth Arts Cinema Box Office inside Plymouth College of Art, Tavistock Place, within our opening hours (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 5pm to 8.30pm; Wednesday: 1pm to 8.30pm; Saturday: 1pm to 8pm). Past this date, you will have to collect your tickets on the night at the event venue. We will have a mini box office open onsite from 6pm for The Box and from 8pm for Tinside Lido. Please bring the booking confirmation email or an ID to collect your tickets.

FAQs

- We want you to feel happy and confident to relax and have a good time. We will be following all UK Government regulations to make these events Covid safe. Seating will be socially-distanced, staff will be wearing face coverings, and hand sanitiser will be available.

- If we have to cancel the events due to Covid-19, all tickets will be refunded in full.

- If you have Covid-19 or need to self isolate, please contact our Box Office and we will refund your tickets in full.

- The screenings will go ahead in all but the most severe weather conditions - no refunds will be given if we have to cancel due to weather conditions.

- Alcoholic drinks will not be allowed into the event. There will be a bar for alcoholic and soft drinks (bringing cash is advised) There are no restrictions on bringing food so feel free to bring a picnic.

- It can get chilly in the evenings so please make sure you dress warmly - think woolly hats, jumpers, coats and blankets! Due to Covid-19, we are unable to provide blankets for hire this year.

- Disabled access is available at both venues.

For a full set of FAQs, please visit the event pages on our website: www.plymouthartscinema.org

The Box - Tavistock Place

Fri 30 July: Ammonite, Open from 6pm, programme starts 7pm, film starts 7.30pm

Sat 31 July: Ammonite, Open from 6pm, programme starts 7pm, film starts 7.30pm

Sun 1 August: Bringing Up Baby, Open from 6pm, programme starts 7pm, film starts 7.30pm

Tinside Lido

Fri 20 Aug: Jaws, Open from 8pm, programme starts 9pm, film starts 9.15pm

Sat 21 Aug: The Life Aquatic…, Open from 8pm, programme starts 9pm, film starts 9.15pm

Sun 22 August: Bait, Open from 8pm, programme starts 9pm, film starts 9.15pm

Thu 2 Sept: Some Like It Hot, Open from 8pm, programme starts 9pm, film starts 9.15pm

Fri 3 Sept: Yesterday, Open from 8pm, programme starts 9pm, film starts 9.15pm

Sat 4 Sept: Thelma and Louise, Open from 8pm, programme starts 9pm, film starts 9.15pm

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Weekend 1: The Box, Tavistock Place

Ammonite (15)Friday 30th July and Saturday 31st July

Dir. Francis Lee, UK, 2020, 136 mins. Cast. Kate Winslet, Saoirse Ronan, Fiona Shaw, Alec Secareanu.

We are very excited for Ammonite to be our opening film for summer 2021 Open Air Cinema.

Ammonite brings to life in vivid detail a woman unappreciated in her own time. A pioneering paleontologist and passionate fossil collector, Mary Anning’s findings contributed to changes in scientific thinking around the prehistory of the Earth and saw her named as one of the most influential women in British scientific history by the Royal Society after her death.

In the 1840s, Anning (Winslet) works alone on the English coastline at Lyme Regis. The days of her famed discoveries behind her, she now hunts for common fossils to sell to rich tourists to support herself and her ailing widowed mother. When one such tourist, Roderick Murchison, arrives in Lyme on the first leg of a European tour, he entrusts Mary with the care of his young wife Charlotte (Ronan), who is recuperating from a personal tragedy.

Mary cannot afford to turn him down, but these two women from utterly different worlds discover they can each offer what the other has been searching for: the realisation that they are not alone. It is the beginning of a passionate and all-consuming love affair that will defy all social bounds and alter the course of both lives irrevocably.

Bringing Up Baby (U)Sunday 1st August

Dir. Howard Hawks, US, 1937, 103 mins. Cast. Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant, May Robson.

A pure Hollywood classic with a missing dinosaur bone as a plot device! Screwball sparks fly when Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn let loose in one of the fastest and funniest films ever made. Hoping to procure a million-dollar endowment from a wealthy society matron for his museum, a hapless paleontologist (Grant) finds himself entangled with a dizzy heiress (Hepburn) as the manic misadventures pile up. Bringing Up Baby’s sophisticated dialogue, spontaneous performances, and giddy innuendo come together in a whirlwind of comic chaos captured with lightning-in-a-bottle brio by director Howard Hawks. A rare treat to see Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn at their absolutely sparkling best.

Weekend 2: Tinside Lido

Jaws (12A)Friday 20th August

Dir. Steven Spielberg, US, 1975, 124 mins. Cast. Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw, Lorraine Gary.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into Tinside….and back by popular demand the most fearedsho/loved film about the terrors of swimming! We make no apologies for screening this again – it remains one of our most popular Open Air Cinema films. Jaws, the story of a small American seaside town terrorised by a great white shark has lost none of its shock value in the years since it was first released but has gained a cult following and has become one of the best-loved films of all time.

To reclaim some of the bad reputation this film gave to sharks, we have invited the Ocean Conservation Trust and the National Marine Aquarium to join us at Tinside to tell us more about these wonderful and mysterious creatures.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (15)Saturday 21st August

Dir. Wes Anderson, US, 2005, 114 mins. Cast. Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston, Willem Defoe, Jeff Goldblum.

Wes Anderson’s sublime, quirky film is a parody of and a homage to Jacques Cousteau. Internationally famous oceanographer Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) and his crew -- Team Zissou -- set sail on an expedition to hunt down the mysterious, elusive, possibly non-existent Jaguar Shark that killed Zissou's partner during the documentary filming of their latest adventure. They are joined on their voyage by a young airline co-pilot, who may or may not be Zissou's son (Owen Wilson), a beautiful journalist (Cate Blanchett) assigned to write a profile of Zissou, and his estranged wife and co-producer, Eleanor (Anjelica Huston). They face overwhelming complications including pirates, kidnapping, and bankruptcy in one of Wes Andersons most beloved films.

Bait (15)Sunday 22nd August

Dir. Mark Jenkin, UK, 2019, 89 mins. Cast. Morgan Val Baker, Georgia Ellery, Martin Ellis, Ed Rowe, Mary Woodvine, Giles Smith.

Stunningly shot on a vintage 16mm camera using monochrome Kodak stock, Mark Jenkin’s remarkable film is a timely and funny, yet poignant tale that gets right to the heart of a Cornish community facing an unwelcome change. Modern-day fisherman Martin is struggling to buy a boat while coping with family rivalry and the influx of London money, Airbnb, and stag parties to his harbour village. The summer season brings simmering tensions between the locals and newcomers to boiling point, with tragic consequences.

Weekend 3: Tinside Lido

Some Like it Hot (12A)Thursday 2nd September

Dir. Billy Wilder, US, 1959, 117 mins. Cast. Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis.

The perfect film to open our last Open Air Cinema weekend of the year. What better way to celebrate cinema than with this dazzling, funny, perfect gem of a film. With Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon at the top of their games and Marilyn Monroe in her best role, the film doesn’t miss a comedic beat. There’s more to Some Like It Hot than its sparkling surface, though. As well as being a romantic comedy, a buddy movie, a crime caper, and a musical, the film is an anthem in praise of tolerance, acceptance, and the possibility of transformation. It’s an anthem that we need to hear now more than ever.

Yesterday (12A)Friday 3rd September

Dir. Danny Boyle, UK, 2019, 116 mins. Cast. Himesh Patel, Lily James, Ed Sheeran

After he is knocked unconscious during a worldwide power cut, pub singer Jack (Himesh Patel) wakes up in a world without The Beatles. He reconstructs their songs from memory and soon worldwide fame beckons. But can he live with the lie? And will his relationship with best friend Ellie (Lily James) survive? The sweetest feelgood film you could imagine, and all played to a soundtrack of Beatles brilliance. Maybe you could check out the Beatles Bum sculpture on The Hoe before you join us at Tinside?!

Thelma and LouiseSaturday 4th September

Dir. Ridley Scott, US, 1991, 120 mins. Cast. Susan Sarandon, Geena Davies, Harvey Keitel.

Can you believe this is the 30th anniversary year of the iconic Thelma and Louise? Meek housewife Thelma (Davis) joins her friend Louise (Sarandon) on a short fishing trip. However, the trip becomes a flight from the law when Louise shoots and kills a man who attacks Thelma at a bar. They decide to flee to Mexico and all sorts of trouble follows them. On the way, Thelma falls for sexy young thief J.D. (Brad Pitt) and the sympathetic Detective Slocumb (Harvey Keitel) tries to convince the two women to surrender before their fates are sealed.

As Susan Sarandon has said, “It’s not too often you get to play an outlaw as a woman”.

With Thanks To Our Sponsors and Partners

Plymouth College of Art, Plymouth Marjon University, Eco Environmental Bird Control Specialists, Plymouth Citybus, Summerskills Brewery, Burts Snacks, Chris Kallis Solicitors, The Muscle Clinic, National Marine Aquarium, The Box, Plymouth City Council, The National Lottery/ BFI

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