Roshan Chandy chats to the staff and special guest Shane Meadows about this brilliant new Beeston cinema.
The Arc Cinema on Station Road, Beeston, opened officially on Thursday 17 May, and we were invited to check out the experience. There were champagne glasses in the lobby, plus free coke and popcorn.
The cinema itself looks great – all Eighties decor and reclining seats – a world away from what you'd find at Nottingham’s oldest picturehouse, Savoy.
I spoke to a team member named Naphet, a lovely young man who told me: “Everyone’s really excited...It’s not one of those things you get very much, you know, a cinema opening in a very cultural place.
“Everyone’s really excited including myself and the other team members. The best thing is setting everything up and making sure everything’s okay”.
I also spoke to one of the managers, who told me the cinema has “eight screens, a nice location and the tram stop literally up the road”.
“We also have drinks machines and luxury seats where you can move about and feel like you’re not intruding on other people’s cinematic experiences”.
Funky, dead-cool and full of movie-making passion and energy
On the way into the movie, I got handed a goodie-bag which contained more popcorn, Maltesers, two free cinema tickets and an Arc Cinema face mask. I’ll definitely be using those free tickets over the next few weeks.
Sitting down in the reclining seats – which are so comfy you could fall asleep – we were introduced to a screening of the 2012 film Somers Town directed by Nottingham-born filmmaking legend Shane Meadows. He introduced the film and was there with his two boys, who hadn’t seen it before.
As for the film, it was superb. I hadn’t seen it either, but it’s in monochrome black-and-white and stars the brilliant Thomas Turgoose, who we all remember from Shane’s other masterpiece, This is England. The power broke down halfway through the projection, but that didn’t matter – it was on again in seconds.
Once the film had finished, I snuck up on Shane Meadows at the front with his two boys. He’s a lovely, unassuming chap.
I told him how much I love his films and even got a quote from him about the cinema experience: “Tonight’s been an amazing experience, partly because both my kids watched one of my films for the first time”.
“[I’m] so proud to be at the launch of a new cinema with my two kids...When this film was actually made, Arthur was in my wife’s tummy”.
The Beeston Arc Cinema is funky, dead-cool and full of movie-making passion and energy. It’s great to see another cinema in Nottingham. Showcase and Cineworld, watch out!
The Arc Cinema is open now and you can book tickets from its website
@CinemaArc
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