Here’s the ‘skinny’ on how we’ve done at FILMBOX in our second year 2013-2014:
- If you had been a member, two of you could have seen each of these films below for £5 each or less…. you would have ‘broken even’ on your membership fee after seeing only six films (plus received a free drink every sixth with our loyalty card).
- So get on board with our membership discount scheme this year! Email us to be added to our mailing list to receive details of our next membership drive for September… LangleyFilmbox@gmail.com
- We decided to go fortnightly in our second year – that should mean 22 films in 11 months, but we had such fun (and you seemed to be enoying it too!), that we programmed an extra TEN FILMS!
- So that’s a grand total of 32 films in 11 months, in a variety of genres, from various times and from different countries! Plus lots of short films…
- We more than doubled the number of members who paid to become a part of FILMBOX – members had two ‘vote-offs’, one for Halloween and one for Valentine’s Day – ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ and ‘Some Like it Hot’ won!
- We programmed SIX FREE EVENTS: 4 free films at our 1st Birthday festival (‘Ponyo’, ‘The Great Gatsby’, ‘Seven Psychopaths’ and ‘Mamma Mia’ outdoor sing along), 1 free talk by the BBFC, a free WW1 film ‘Paths of Glory’ – plus a nearly free film, ‘Cinema Paradiso’ (only £1 to members).
- We held our 1st Birthday film festival and over 600 local people came in 3 days!
- Our biggest audiences were for: ‘White Christmas’, preceded by live a capella singers, ‘Just Voices’ and ending with a sprinkling of ‘snow’ on the audience; ‘Philomena’; ‘Blue Jasmine’; Gravity’, ’12 Years a Slave’ and ‘West Side Story’. Showing big films like these help subsidise less popular, but highly regarded, ‘smaller’ films.
- Some of our highest appreciation indexes were for ‘little’ films, such as ‘Robot & Frank’, ‘Mud’, ‘Behind the Candelabra’, ‘Once’ and ‘The Selfish Giant’ and clearly, you love our classics and musical strands!
- We had a night of silent film and jazz, with a live jazz quartet accompanying Buster Keaton’s ‘Sherlock Junior’.
- Box Office: Ticket Source sales – up three-fold to 2989 (Sept. 2012-July 2014 – this doesn’t include tickets sold/given by other means).
- We have continued our ‘special features’ to add value to our patrons’ cinema-going experience and have been treated to an insight into the soundtrack music for ‘West Side Story’ and ‘Cinema Paradiso’, from a musician’s point of view.
- We’ve had talenetd students from Langley Park Boys School introducing several films with song, dance and music, eg ‘West Side Story’ and ‘Cinema Paradiso’, plus some Rabbie Burns in poetry and song for Hogmanay, beofre ‘Sunshine in Leith’.
- We have had some brand new documentary films, ‘A Story of Children and Film’, ‘Act of Killing’, ‘The Village at the End of the World’ and ‘RealLife’.
- We have acquired a terrific team of A level students who help with all aspects of front of house to selling ice creams and writing film reviews for our programme notes. This volunteer work counts towards their Duke Of Edinburgh awards as well as giving them a ‘live’ business project to work on, work alongside adults and deal with the public and provide something unique to write about in their UCAS personal statement for university entry.
- Our venue obtained a full licence to sell alcohol and we extended our bar and concessions offer.
- We joined Film Hub London to add to our membership of Cinema for All and Bromley Arts Council.
- We went to our first Cinema for All (formerly British Federation of Film Societies) conference and told our ‘getting started’ story! And we won an award ‘Commended’ for ‘Best New Film Society’. We also went to a Film London course to learn all about engaging our audience and marketing.
- We continued our relationship with local food businesses and were delighted to have had screenings sponsored by ‘Sponge Kitchens’ in Beckenham/Hayes/Downham, ‘Drunken Dairy’, ice cream for grown ups and bespoke cake-makers ‘The House of A’ in Catford.
- We used surplus profits to develop our FILMBOX brand and make our patrons experience more professional at front of house and in the bar. We also were able to buy some resources for Langley Park School for Boys’ Performing Arts Dept.
- So all in all we hope you agree that it’s a thumbs up for FILMBOX and we hope you’ll join us this September for our third year – we have lots more planned!
FILMBOX Community Cinema is a not-for-profit, fully self-funding venture based at Langley Park School for Boys in Beckenham, Kent (London Borough of Bromley) entirely run and staffed by volunteers, for the love of film and the very best way to share it… the cinema!
Website: http://LangleyFilmbox.wordpress.com
See our provisional Autumn programme 2014 here: http://www.ticketsource.co.uk/filmbox
Email: LangleyFilmbox@gmail.com
