Southsea Community Cinema and Arts Centre Opening in the heart of Southsea with Open House 19 May from noon – 5 pm featuring local performers, films soundtracks, drums and short films.
Portsmouth Film Society announces the opening at 1-3 Palmerston Road with esteemed guest, Stephen Morgan, MP and a ribbon cutting ceremony by the new Lord Mayor at 6:30 pm followed by a reception for community leaders, local artists and business leaders. The News and BBC1 South will be onsite to capture the day’s highlights to be aired on 20 May 6:30 pm.
In showcasing our configurable cinema space, meeting rooms with kitchen facilities, photography and film capability, we want to engage with the community to gain input on how we evolve our film and educational programs as well as develop the space to best suit the needs of local artists and customers.
Our diverse Cinema program features a variety of genres to appeal to people of all ages with matinees and daily evening screenings funded by the British Film Institute (BFI).
Members will enjoy twice weekly private parties with Independent world films like Drive My Car (2021-Japanese) the first foreign film to win Best Film of the Year Oscar and an eclectic mix of offbeat films starting with the first of two archive films being shown in collaboration with the regional film archive Wessex Film and Sound Archive. Caught in the Act is a late silent crime fiction film from the 1930s made by the Bournemouth Cine Club and Portsmouth Cine Club, part of the original long-running Portsmouth Film Society. It will be accompanied with live music.
Cult Curious? A special weekly event taking you back in time showcasing cult films spanning different eras and countries. Find out what these obscure, offbeat and outrageous films say about the zeitgeist of their place and time in history. Film hosts will share why these movies bombed at the box office yet slowly garnered a steadfast legion of fans and influence modern mainstream cinema. Join us afterwards for refreshments in our cafe to discuss why you share a similar interest in these quirky masterpieces. (Selected films La Haine (1995), Videorome (1981), Wake in Fight (1970), Naked (1993) and Freaks (1932)
Our Green Film Festival program kicks off with three international films with strong messages regarding environmental issues confronting us today.
“After years of painstaking search for a home for Portsmouth Film Society, I naively dropped myself into what now seemed like a herculean task of overseeing the conversion of a dilapidated bank into this beautiful cinema. A dream come true.” says Aysegul Epengin the director of Portsmouth Film Society.
“Portsmouth Film Society has been around for 12 years. I’ve worked just two of those – all across the city gaining valuable experience, even during the lockdown when we moved our youth film making workshop from the classroom to Zoom. Our own venue is more practical, for our customers as well as us. I can’t wait to experience it with them!” Miles J. Hanmore, Student, University of Portsmouth.”
The response has been remarkable with ticket sales underway and our first venue hire already booked. Thanks to Power to Change Crowdfunding supporter and Portsmouth City Council, and 132 individuals for enabling us to achieve our targets. We are also delighted to announce that Portsmouth Film Society has been awarded Get Set Solent EU YTKO funds.
Southsea Community Cinema and Arts Center launch sponsors are PCO Group and Mimi Market at Palmerston Road. Our gold business sponsor is: Barbara Tipple, jewellery shop at Marmion road. Also, a big thank you to Now Build It Ltd, who completed building work on time.
Southsea Community Cinema and Arts Center with its cafe will be open from 10 am – 9pm. You can contact us at admin@southseacinema.co.uk or 07528 808400 to discuss the hiring of the cinema or education/conference room for meetings, classes, and private parties to watch your own favorite films and videos in a cinema setting. We have begun accepting venue hire booking from local writers and festivals.
For the complete cinema listings and our outdoor Sunset film program, the first in Portsmouth, follow us here at The Portsmouth News or