Open Cinema


PRESS

  • The Daily Echo Nov 20, 2016


    The Bournemouth Daily Echo trail the 50th Anniversary screening of Cathy Come Home, to be hosted by housing association BCHA and the Homes for Cathy Coalition with support from Open Cinema, on 25 November 2016 at Bournemouth University. The film's lead actor Ray Brooks will be in conversation following the screening, along with BCHA Chairman Peter Hoyle, who committed his career to housing on watching the original 1968 BBC broadcast. OC's Christoph Warrack will be there to moderate the discussion.

    This reaction was the catalyst for people up and down the country to come together and form housing associations in their communities, often in partnership with their local churches, to provide accommodation for homeless people...

    READ MORE
  • The Visitor Dec 24, 2015

    The Visitor told the remarkable story of Open Cinema Lancashire director David Mcloughlin, and his recovery from drug dependency to found a network of community cinemas for dependency clients and other excluded groups across Lancashire.

    The 46-year-old is working to help others by setting up a community cinema for those in recovery...
    READ MORE
  • The Yorkshire Post Aug 4, 2015

    The Yorkshire post ran a feature on our progress through the Dotforge accelerator, and interviewed our CEO Christoph on the background of Open Cinema.

    He came up with a simple idea: take film to socially isolated people by starting a film club in a local setting, giving members a cultural experience as well as the usual food and drink...

    READ MORE
  • The Guardian Nov 28, 2014

    The Guardian reported from social enterprises including Open Cinema on the cultural challenges facing them as they respond to demand from international markets.

    Open Cinema, which takes film to marginalized people and uses it as a platform to promote connections, community spirit, discussion and learning in the UK and abroad...

    READ MORE
  • Scottish Television Edinburgh Sep 23, 2014

    Scottish Television Edinburgh covered the work of the OC Edinburgh team, the films they've made and the impact of the project on members' lives, during the September mini-festival, co-hosted with Scalarama.

    The lights dim and the muffled rustle of popcorn and quiet chattering reveberates around the room...

    READ MORE
  • The Evening Standard Mar 27, 2014

    On 27 March 2014, London's oldest continually-running newspaper were present at the church of St Bartholomew the Great in Smithfield to meet the screenwriter and BAFTA Fellow Richard Curtis, and his writing (and life) partner Emma Freud OBE. Curtis and Freud were here to help launch Open Cinema Broadway, a community cinema supporting homeless people in the City of London.

    Curtis, who co-founded Comic Relief and once took a year out of filmmaking to concentrate on charity work, said he was glad to help, and to revisit the church where they spent four days filming the low-budget classic in 1993.

    “It’s very interesting issue that people who are excluded become more excluded and people who are deprived more and more deprived of the simplest things..."

    READ MORE
  • The Guardian Oct 8, 2013

    Open Cinema's film about wealth inequality, commissioned by the High Pay Centre, made the front page of the Guardian website, generating as intended a stream of debate, and over 40,000 views in the first 24 hours.

    READ MORE
  • SMart Nov 1, 2012

    LAURA HOPPER, OC's Executive Director, talks to the inaugural edition of SMart about the impact of Open Cinema.

    READ MORE
  • The Irish Times Jul 23, 2012

    THE IRISH TIMES attended the opening screening of Open Cinema Dublin at The Exchange in Temple Bar on 23 July 2012, with a piece appearing in the following day's paper. Click here to download a copy (3.9MB).

  • Creative Arts Investment Network Jun 1, 2011

    A DAY IN THE LIFE of Open Cinema is a feature in the June 2011 edition of the Creative Arts Investment Network magazine.

    READ MORE
  • The Pavement Feb 11, 2011

    Not only does Open Cinema pull out all the stops to offer clients the full cinema experience, with screenings chosen by participants, but they also run film workshops allowing members to develop valuable creative skills by making films which convey their own experiences.

    READ MORE
  • Radio 4 Jan 21, 2011


    The audience is a mixture of local people, young and older, and a few film students and some groups from local support organizations. Also there is Christoph Warrack, from an organization called Open Cinema that arranges film club screenings around Britain...

    READ MORE
  • BBC London Dec 12, 2010

    ...People who are homeless or marginalized need the benefits of culture as much as they need food.

    READ MORE
  • Charity Times Dec 11, 2010

    As it was, I needn't have worried. My fears perhaps revealed more about my own preconceptions than anything else. Without exception, the films I watched were fantastic.

    READ MORE
  • Channel 4 Jan 1, 2010

    In January 2010, and again in June 2011, Channel 4 broadcast a short film about Open Cinema made by Sketch Films, covering the mission of the organization and the impact it has had in improving the lives of marginalized communities.

    READ MORE
  • The Times Apr 2, 2010

    Back at The Connection, Mr Graves conceded that he was “nervous” about showing his short film, but said he was an ardent supporter of the scheme: “Film is quite a bourgeois pursuit, but here you have people talking about things that are ... personal. You have to accept very genuine reactions from people who lead really hard lives.”
    READ MORE
  • Big Issue Mar 6, 2008

    The auditorium of the Odeon West End is filling up quickly to the low hubbub of excited chatter. "I haven't been to the movies since 1979!" smiles Wayne as he takes a bite from a fairy cake he was given at the door. "I'm hoping to ask Mike Leigh a question. It's not something that happens every day, is it?"

    READ MORE
  • Variety Feb 8, 2008

    Ken Loach lived up to his maverick rep at a Feb. 6 screening for London’s homeless community at the Prince Charles cinema, Leicester Square. Loach was invited by London’s Open House Film Club (which screens movies for the needy) to introduce his ’60s classic on homelessness, “Cathy Come Home.”

    READ MORE