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POP-UP
CINEMA
Welcome to the past events of our world of pop-up cinema!
In 2018 in collaboration with Dementia Friendly Prestwick, we were successful along with our fellow charity in receiving funding from the Weir Charitable Trust, to purchase our very own pop-up cinema equipment.
Since then we hosted a wide variety of screenings across our community bringing cinema back to Prestwick once again. You can look back at many of those previous events right here!
With our partnership with Indy and launch of The Broadway Pop-up Cinema Roadshow our cinema operation has evolved to a professional programme, with all Roadshow events past, present, and future, available to view here!
For now, we remember our roots.
To read all about Prestwick Film Festival please click here!
GALLERY
Empire of Light
Prestwick Community Centre
Saturday 25th March 2023
In a first for our pop-up cinema events we decided to show a new release! A sign of things to come with the Roadshow, having just left cinemas a few weeks previously, the Broadway pop-up experience gave you the chance to come and see what you missed, and enjoy Sam Mendes' Oscar-nominated drama Empire of Light!
Empire of Light was created by the director as an ode to cinema and as a tribute to the power of film and how human connections can form through the experience of the projected image. Olivia Coleman stars as Hilary, a cinema manager struggling with her mental health, and Stephen (Michael Ward) is a new employee longing to escape the provincial town where he faces daily adversity. Together they find a sense of belonging and experience the healing power of music, cinema, and community. Specifically, the film sheds the spotlight on cinema experiences mostly gone in 2023, with Toby Jones playing Norman the projectionist and highlighting wonderfully the magic of 35mm film.
The projection booth scenes in particular hold significant emotions for us at the Broadway, as the projectors in question are almost identical to our very own Gaumont-Kalee Type 20s in the Broadway's projection room! Seeing those machines spark to life on the screen was truly magical, as it acted as a glimpse into the future when our own Kalees would roar once again and bring the magic of film back to Prestwick. We also had a VIP in the audience! We were visited by David Ferguson from the Projected Picture Trust, and the PPT helped provide and install the very projectors seen in the film! David has since joined the project as an official Executive Advisor of Projection, and helping to further develop our relationship with the PPT.
Being set in the 1980s the programme for the event also featured authentic trailers and adverts for the era, including a special tribute to the former ABC Cinemas across the country, a household name during the decade.
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Valentine's Special 2023
Prestwick Community Centre
Saturday 11th February 2023
For our third pop-up cinema screening of 2023 we decided to celebrate Valentine's Day by hosting our first Members' Choice vote for the film we would show!
The four romance-filled options shortlisted were Breakfast at Tiffany's, Casablanca, Notting Hill and Pride & Prejudice, with voting open to all members right here on our official website. In the early stages of the vote, it was actually Notting Hill and Pride & Prejudice that looked most likely to emerge the winner, tied with four votes each! However, a strong comeback saw Breakfast at Tiffany's come out on top just one vote ahead of Pride & Prejudice when the vote officially closed.
It was subsequently announced that on Saturday 11th February we would show Audrey Hepburn's finest hour at Prestwick Community Centre with general admission open to all with all entry fees paid by donation upon entry at the event. Due to Breakfast at Tiffany's being an iconic early 1960s feature, our chief projectionist Guy developed an authentic 60s cinema programme for the screening, including a wonderful schedule of period advertisements, trailers and music in advance of the main feature. The event also featured an intermission, with our new front-of-house manager of our Events Team, Joanne Friel, curating a delightful selection of concessions available, including of course choc ices at the interval!
Being able to open up voting to our members for the first time was a lovely experience and incredibly exciting watching the votes rise! We were also thrilled when Breakfast at Tiffany's won the vote and all in attendance thoroughly enjoyed watching Hollywood icon Audrey Hepburn in arguably her finest performance on screen!
Cinema Paradiso
The Passion of Cinema: Part 2
Prestwick Community Centre
Saturday 28th January 2023
Once the curtains closed on our matinee performance it was time for a short break before opening the doors for Part 2 of our Passion of Cinema double-feature, Cinema Paradiso!
Widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all-time and undoubtedly the greatest ode to cinema ever created, Cinema Paradiso is a masterpiece that shows better than any other the true love, passion and emotions that we all hold in our hearts to the magic of film. We follow the story of Salvatore di Vita, or Toto, and his falling in love with the Cinema Paradiso, the town of Gianluca's beloved picture house that was the centre of life itself in the beautiful town square it called home. We follow Toto's relationships with family, love and the cinema's wonderful projectionist Alfredo, and follow his coming of age along with cinema itself in mid-20th century Italy.
Cinema Paradiso became known as the film that would save the Italian film industry and the impact it had on our relationship with cinema can never be understated. The emotions that the audiences of the Cinema Paradiso showed would have been echoed in our very own Cinema Paradiso, the Broadway! Our beautiful cinema played such a crucial role in Prestwick's community for decades and films like these only inspire us even more to ensure the Broadway will live on for generations to come.
The Passion of Cinema event was the perfect way to start 2023 as we look ahead to a packed event schedule in what will prove to be a crucial year for our project.
The Smallest Show on Earth
The Passion of Cinema Part 1
Prestwick Community Centre
Saturday 28th January 2023
We were delighted to kick-off a packed schedule ahead for 2023 by celebrating all that makes cinema so special, with the Passion of Cinema special event!
We hosted a double-feature at Prestwick Community Centre and our Part 1 matinee performance was 1950s British feel-good comedy classic The Smallest Show on Earth. A story of a young couple who inherit a cinema, not (as they first thought) the magnificent Grand Cinema, but instead the ramshackle Bijou round the corner, with a quite literally shaky location and charismatic cast of characters for its staff! Mrs. Fazackalee, Mr. Quill and Old Tom truly make you fall in love with the Bijou, but only if the Bijou doesn't fall down first!
We were also delighted to make the screening an authentic 1950s vintage cinema experience, taking the audience back in time to take part in cinema traditions of the past! Our programme featured period advertisements and trailers, including other 50s hits such as Creature from the Black Lagoon and Passport to Pimlico! The main feature was preceded by a short 'Look at Life' film too, showing an in-depth look at the nation's cinema-going in the 1950s. Finally, the event also featured a classic intermission with a virtual organist interlude and our amazing team of usherettes serving, of course, choc ices!
We would like to give a huge thank you to all of our volunteers who attended on the day, this was the first show for our all-new Events Team to take part in and it was a joy to help make the event special for all of you.
It's a Wonderful Life
Christmas Special 2022: Part 2
The Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA) Club
Wednesday 28th December 2022
Back due to popular demand! Our first screening of It's a Wonderful Life on the 21st sold out within 48 hours of general admission going on sale. Due to this high demand for tickets, we decided to show the festive favourite film for a second time, one week later in-between Christmas and New Year!
This screening too was hosted in collaboration with Dementia Friendly Prestwick, who kindly offered the use of their Meeting Centre space at the RAFA Club, a venue we have been fortunate enough to host in on multiple occasions in the past. It was time to return to Bedford Falls and to offer an inclusive viewing experience that caters to a dementia-friendly audience the event was advertised as a relaxed screening, with subtitles shown and a more flexible viewing environment, with conversations and movement around the auditorium more than welcome.
Frank Capra's classic was again enjoyed by all, with emotions running high at the wonderful conclusion to George Bailey's story! It's a Wonderful Life we are sure will have shown in the Broadway in the past, and we would love to bring it back in the Broadway of the future. A timeless tale that it was an honour to show for our community this festive season.
We would like to thank Dementia Friendly Prestwick and the RAFA Club for making this Part 2 possible, to John O'Donnell who again kindly volunteered at the event (and is now our vice-chairperson!) and of course, to all who patrons who attended on the day! We are eternally grateful for your support and can't wait to see you all at more screenings in 2023!
It's a Wonderful Life
Christmas Special 2022
Prestwick Community Centre
Wednesday 21st December 2022
To celebrate the relaunch of our membership and the project's aims going forward, and herald the launch of our new website, there was no better way to kickstart our new regular pop-up screenings than with all-time Christmas classic It's a Wonderful Life!
Arguably the greatest festive film in history, It's a Wonderful Life still holds a very special place in the hearts of many to this day, standing the test of time for over 76 years. For our Christmas Special 2022 we decided to create a truly vintage experience, and bring back a cinema experience of old by featuring an intermission! At the halfway point of the feature, the intermission sequence began and our amazing team of volunteers became usherettes; offering choc ices, mince pies and cakes kindly donated by local coffee shop Bramley's, even being served in our original usherette tray used in the Broadway!
Our all-new member system enabled us to offer members' early access to tickets for the first time, and allow members to sign-up in-person at the event. We would like to thank everyone who reserved seats and came along on the day, and give an extra special thank you to our new volunteers! To Ainsley, Andrew, Valerie, Joanne, John, Graham, Louise and Chlöe we couldn't have made the event such a huge success without you and can't wait to have you along again at more official events! It was a pleasure welcoming you to the team. If you would like to volunteer too and perhaps join our new Events team please do get in touch with us here.
Overall, our first showing of It's a Wonderful Life was an incredible success, Prestwick truly became Bedford Falls and all of us so thoroughly enjoyed joining George Bailey on his emotional and remarkable journey! Due to popular demand too, we decided to plan a second screening for the following week!
The Muppet Christmas Carol
Christmas Special 2021
The Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA) Club
Sunday 28th November 2021
After a prolonged hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, pop-up cinema finally returned to Prestwick for the start of the festive season 2021!
We showed children's Christmas classic The Muppet Christmas Carol in front of a sell-out capacity crowd at the RAFA Club, to coincide with Lighting Up Prestwick Day, and it was a joy to return to pop-up cinema screenings once again! The event would be the first for a new-look board of directors with several of our team experiencing hosting a pop-up cinema event for the first time. Now backed by the expert projection skills of our very own projectionist Guy, pop-up cinema was back better than ever with all-new cinematics, lighting and sound techniques!
The event was originally planned to be shown alongside local Lighting Up Prestwick festivities, although sadly the annual street event was cancelled a few days before scheduled. Nevertheless, we decided to go ahead with our own Christmas special regardless with a reduced crowd capacity to meet with current government COVID-19 guidelines, along with all other recommended measures in place including sanitising stations and available masks.
Despite the restrictions the event was an incredible success, thoroughly enjoyed by all and featuring extra Christmas festivities including a very special visitor all the way from the North Pole! It was a delight to bring back pop-up screenings once more!
Mary Poppins Returns
Members 1st Birthday Special
The Parkstone Hotel
Sunday 16th February 2020
The first pop-up cinema event of the new decade took place to celebrate one year on from the first event in 2019, as a 1st birthday special for the first members that signed up on that day at the RAFA Club!
The film chosen for this event was Mary Poppins Returns, a wonderfully funny and wholesome live-action sequel to the original 1964 classic! Starring Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins and featuring a fantastic supporting cast, the film received wonderful reviews and was the perfect follow on from the original 54 years later.
The venue for this special screening was a new one for the group, the Parkstone Hotel just adjacent to the RAFA Club along Prestwick shorefront. The upstairs function room provided an excellent screening space with plenty of room for the dozens who attended and additional space for snacks, membership and face-painting stalls! Many of those who visited were able to renew their memberships for another year, with several more signing up for the first time!
The event screening was a lovely success and was the first Broadway event to be attended by several new directors added to the board around this time. The COVID-19 pandemic sadly halted proceedings shortly after this event, therefore Mary Poppins Returns would be the last pop-up cinema event shown until almost two years later when we returned with a Christmas special in 2021! This event was also one of the last to be hosted by the Parkstone Hotel, a Prestwick institution that sadly did not survive the pandemic, the iconic town landmark was subsequently demolished after being sold, and we are now thankful that we could host our own event there before the building would sadly be lost to history.
Elf & The Santa Clause
Lighting Up Prestwick Christmas Special 2019
The Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA) Club
Sunday 24th November 2019
To join in with the festive celebrations in 2019 in collaboration with Lighting Up Prestwick we were thrilled to host our very first Christmas screenings on the same day as the town's lights switch-on ceremony!
We organised a special Christmas double-header once again hosted by the RAFA Club, showing two classic Christmas movies. The first screening was a favourite Christmas movie for many, Elf! Shown first to kick-off the days proceedings, Elf was one of our most successful screenings yet, sold out and thoroughly enjoyed by all who visited, the film became an instant classic upon release in 2003 and has become a mainstay in the Christmas calendar ever since.
Following the lights being switched on at Prestwick Cross, we then opened the doors of the RAFA Club once more, inviting families back in again for another festive classic The Santa Clause! Tim Allen stars as Scott Calvin, a perfectly ordinary family man whose life is turned upside down in a Christmas to remember when despite not believing in him, fortune ends up giving him the role of Santa Claus himself! The second screening was the perfect way to round off the day of festivities in the town in what became a wonderful day for everyone in the community!
The Prestwick Business Association did a fantastic job in organising the main event for Lighting Up Prestwick and we were delighted to be a part of what is always a special event for the town. Thank you again to the RAFA Club for going the extra mile with their decorations and Christmas cheer and we thoroughly hope all who attended went on to have a wonderful festive season!
Queen of Katwe
Pass It On Trust Uganda Special
The Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA) Club
Thursday 21st November 2019
In-between Halloween and Christmas 2019 we hosted a very unique and very special one-off screening for a fantastic cause.
Pass It On Trust Uganda is a youth-led volunteer-based non-profit organisation that promotes education for children in Uganda, protecting young Ugandans as a tool of change to fight against the cruelty of paid early marriages.
We were delighted to team up with this wonderful organisation to raise awareness for their cause with a pop-up cinema screening of Walt Disney's biographical sports drama film Queen of Katwe. Released in 2016, the film follows the story of Phiona, a ten-year old girl growing up in Katwe, Uganda and her and her family's struggle to survive selling maize at the local market. When one day Phiona meets Robert Katende at a missionary program her life changes forever, where she would go on to become fascinated by the game of chess under the mentorship of Katende, and soon thereafter become a master of the game.
Phiona's story of rising from the poverty-stricken market streets of Katwe to becoming a chess champion and providing a way out for her family is a heart-warming tale that can provide hope to those in need in Uganda today. It shows the power of education and reinforces the need for the amazing work of the Pass It On Trust, in providing those educational sources for those in the most isolated poverty-stricken communities.
The event on the day also featured a Ugandan crafts market as an income source alongside the screening, with the day becoming a success for all involved!
An American Werewolf in London & The Exorcist
Halloween Special 2019
The Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA) Club
Thursday 31st October 2019
To follow on from the Apple Day screenings with River Garden Auchincruive, just five days later we would host another Halloween double-header of our own! This time on Halloween night itself back in the RAFA Club for a back-to-back night of terror!
The films chosen were iconic horror/comedy An American Werewolf in London followed by arguably the most famous horror film of all-time The Exorcist! Both showings were rated 18 and free to enter, with subtitles shown and a bar available kindly provided by the RAFA Club.
The event was a success with both screenings well-attended and both films providing plenty of scares for Halloween night! The Exorcist in particular has been regularly voted as the best horror movie of all-time and to show this classic for Prestwick was an incredible opportunity. Memberships were available again too for anyone who wasn't too shaken up afterwards by the events of the screenings!
The RAFA Club once again played the perfect host and it has been wonderful to keep building our partnership with multiple events collaborated on together. We would love to bring back Halloween screenings in the future and of course spooky season in the reopened Broadway Cinema will be a very special time of year!
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse
of the Were-Rabbit &
The Cabin in the Woods
River Garden Auchincruive's Apple Day Special 2019
River Garden Auchincruive
Saturday 26th October 2019
To mark the beginning of spooky season in 2019 we were delighted to partner up with River Garden Auchincruive for their annual Apple Day festivities!
To kickstart what would be a remarkable seven films shown over a period of just one month, we hosted a unique and memorable Halloween double header, showing family-friendly comedy Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit followed by well-known horror/comedy from 2011 The Cabin in the Woods!
Both films were well received and enjoyed by all who visited, with this event also becoming our first dog-friendly screenings! In association with the River Garden tickets were free and the films were shown in tandem with the main Apple Day festivities, including apple pressing, market stalls and interactive workshops on topics from stonemasonry to beekeeping!
The film choices offered a nice variety to choose from on the day, with Wallace & Gromit providing a fun family friendly screening to close off the main Apple Day schedule during the afternoon, and the Cabin in the Woods offering a late evening scare-fest in the darkness surrounded by the woods around Auchincruive!
Local Hero
Prestwick's Local Heroes Special
The Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA) Club
Thursday 5th September 2019
On the 5th of September 2019 it was time for our third pop-up cinema event. This time we were back at the RAFA Club and choosing to pay homage to two of Prestwick's own local heroes Laura Twaddell and George Gemmell. In their memory, we showed the classic 1983 hit Local Hero, filmed in beautiful surroundings in the Scottish Highlands and set in the fictional coastal village of Ferness.
The film itself strikes a cord with the small coastal communities of Ayrshire too! The story follows the characterful residents of Ferness choosing to save their small village from the American oil tycoon "Mac" MacIntyre, in the name of preserving their natural heritage and beautiful coastline against any potentially destructive and damaging corporate development. With the RAFA Club looking out over Prestwick Beach to the West the venue provided a most appropriate setting for the film, helping to remind us of the importance in preserving our shoreline for the benefit of the community and the environment.
The event, just like the inaugural showing of Finding Nemo, was a relaxed screening with subtitles, creating an all-inclusive environment to view the film. Membership opportunities were also open at the event with even more community members signing up to the group.
Once again the screening was very successful and another thank you goes out to the RAFA Club who played perfect hosts and to everyone who came along on the day!
Tommy's Honour
Director Q&A Special
Prestwick Golf Club
Thursday 25th April 2019
The second ever pop-up cinema event hosted by Friends of the Broadway Prestwick was a very special one.
Prestwick is perhaps best known for its special place in the history of golf. The birthplace of the Open Golf Championship, in 1860 Prestwick Golf Club hosted the first ever Open, organised by the designer of the course itself Old Tom Morris. Tom would become a legendary figure in the history of the sport, not only creating the most iconic golf tournament of all-time but then going on to win four of the first eight tournaments, only for his son Young Tom Morris to then win four in succession!
The film Tommy's Honour was created as an homage to Tom Morris Sr. and Jr. Directed by Jason Connery the film follows the lives of the father and son in 1866 in St. Andrews, where they often clash on the subject of the sport's future. Thankfully, the relationship between them heals over time and the film stands as a fitting tribute to the pairs' accomplishments.
In association with Prestwick Golf Club and Dementia Friendly Prestwick, a special one-time screening was arranged in the famous Smoke Room of the original golf clubhouse, featuring a guest Q&A with none other than the director of the film himself Jason Connery. Son of Sean Connery, Jason was incredibly supportive of both our own project for the Broadway and for the amazing charitable work of Dementia Friendly Prestwick, with the screening and followed Q&A session enjoyed immensely by all in attendance. A truly special occasion for Prestwick!
Finding Nemo
1st Pop-up Cinema Event
The Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA) Club
Sunday 17th February 2019
The first event that started it all! Once Friends of the Broadway Prestwick, in partnership with Dementia Friendly Prestwick, successfully received funding from the Weir Charitable Trust to purchase our own shared pop-up cinema equipment we began planning the group's first ever pop-up cinema event. Bringing back cinema to Prestwick under the Broadway's name for the first time since 1976.
Of course, an alternative venue was required to host such an event and the perfect host was found as the Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA) Club on Ardayre Road. The RAFA Club were able to provide a fantastic space perfect for a temporary cinema auditorium, with a bar providing refreshments and plenty of room too for additional engagement tables and seating areas.
The film chosen for our first event was decided by you! We released a poll on social media for a family-friendly screening for the Sunday afternoon of the 17th of February, and the winner was Disney Pixar classic Finding Nemo! The event would be a relaxed screening with subtitles too, providing a calm and comfortable environment for families to enjoy the film in their own way.
This event was also the first opportunity the community had to become members! We officially opened up our membership at this event, with the first members signing up as soon as the doors opened at 1PM. Our all-new updated online membership system is now right here on our website.
The first event was a huge success! A sold-out screening enjoyed by all that set the ball rolling for many other pop-up cinema events to come, and now the Roadshow!
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