SCREEN NEWS: SCALA CLUB CINEMA kickstarter needs your support!

Programmer and chronicler of Scala Cinema, Jane Giles, is making a new doc about the legendary London indie & needs your support to get the job done!

By RADIANT CIRCUS // Twitter @radiantcircus / Instagram @radiantcircus

Back in the dark days of last year’s cinema shutdown, RADIANT CIRCUS invited enthusiastic readers to submit their #LDNindieFILM Love Stories to both celebrate what we were all missing and stand a chance of winning a copy of Jane Giles’ coffe-table-destroyer of a book, The Scala Cinema 1978 – 1993. Perhaps it was inevitable, but the winner was… Andrew Kay writing his very own love letter to the Scala. Here’s why he won:

I chose Andrew’s submission as the winner for several reasons, the main being his fond celebration of being huddled with his friends in the audience. Too much writing about cinema is actually about film (and even then the focus is narrowly on production, distribution and review…). Bombarded by biscuits, Andrew reminds us that the experience of cinema has a profound importance to any film’s impact and that great cinema is always a shared, celebratory carnival. That ‘magical’ 2001 moment with a bottle tossed into the projector beam is what it’s always been about…

RADIANT CIRCUS

In a new development that has left me a little bit starstruck, Jane Giles contacted RADIANT CIRCUS to invite our readers to support her crowdfunding campaign to complete a new documentary, SCALA CLUB CINEMA.

A feature-length film co-directed by Jane and Ali Catterall, SCALA CLUB CINEMA is based on Jane’s incredible book and will feature interviews with former members of the Scala audience including Adam Buxton, Caroline Catz, Mary Harron, Isaac Julien, Ben Wheatley, John Waters and many others.

“The Scala had magic. It was like joining a club – a very secret club, like a biker gang or something… It’s like they were a country club for criminals and lunatics and people that were high… Which is a good way to see movies.”

JOHN WATERS

Awarded part finance by the BFI Doc Society in April 2020, Jane and crew have already completed all archive footage and movie clip research, and have filmed more than 50 interviews with those famous alumni as well as people who worked and promoted events at the Scala. So, what’s the kickstarter for? As Jane puts it:

“Without the investment of a television broadcaster, distributor, sales agent or streaming platform, and even having deferred all director and producer fees, we find ourselves making the film in true Scala fashion, on half a shoestring and with a hole at the end of our budget.”

JANE GILES

Crowdfunding will contribute towards delivering a finished film, including third party post-production costs for the final edit, grading, sound mix and other technical work. At the time of posting, £21,501 has been pledged towards a final target of £25,000. As with all kickstarter campaigns, the project will only be funded if it reaches its goal. Support is invited at a range of different levels, each with its own reward: £5 gets you a set of Scala Stickers, and so it goes… all the way up to an Exec Producer credit for £5,000 (which would get the film done).

You’ve got until just before midnight on 01 NOV 2021 to get this over the finish line! Help if you can.

Richard // RADIANT CIRCUS

  • Scala cafe foyer by Yuval & Wigan 1986
  • Scala auditorium 1993
  • Huston the cinema cat in the Scala box office 1990
  • Scala programme September 1983
Scala Club Cinema: images provided by Jane Giles & used with permission.

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*THE SMALL PRINT: Opinions author’s own. // As accurate as we could make it. Apologies for any errors. Updates & corrections will be made to the online version only. // Event dates/times/formats are subject to change by the venue/organiser. Events may already be sold out at the time of posting, so please click quickly. // We try to list as many original format screenings as we can (8 to 70MM), but sometimes formats change due to age of the print, availability, logistics etc, so please check ahead with your venue if the format is your thing. // All images are used in the spirit of fair use for reporting & review – no ownership is implied or intended / unless otherwise credited to RADIANT CIRCUS as the original rights holder. We will remove any images immediately upon request – just get in touch. // We don’t filter our listings by age/certification: all readers & subscribers should therefore be 18+. // Finally, we always try to follow The Carny Code by “not screwing up anyone else’s game”, but everyone can make mistakes… If something does go wrong, we will always do our best to put it right. //.