Leamington cinema rises from the underground

Jim Morton, who set up the Leamington Underground Cinema, will be exposing a good few hours of unseen short films to anyone who wants to ‘go along’ - without leaving their sofas - to The Remote Control Film Night 2 on Thursday November 10.

Having already run two film nights at the Apollo Cinema and a previous ‘remote control’ evening a few months ago, Jim and his friends will this time be screening a selection of material they have found online, as well as some creations of their own, while running competitions and quizzes alongside.

He said: “People can join in, they don’t have to go out or get a babysitter and they get a take-away and their mates round.

“Last time we had almost 400 viewers. People were giving us feedback throughout the night and sending in videos of themselves re-enacting scenes. It was really good fun.

“The idea is that for two or three hours, we send out a stream of things for people to watch and we get a banter going.”

With a day job as a council employee, Jim runs the venture in his spare time, with the help of friends and the use of social websites to spread the word.

He said: “I am a frustrated filmmaker but really enjoy doing this and am trying to make something really big of it. It’s taking advantage of the fact that everyone spends most of their lives on Facebook.

“You can’t sit in the cinema and talk about what you’re watching, but if you’re at home, you can so it’s actually more sociable.

“It also doesn’t cost any money.”

The Remote Control Film Night 2 starts at 7.30pm. To view the films on the night, log on to www.facebook.com/leamingtonundergroundcinema and click on ‘like’, or visit www.twitter.com_paperjam and follow @_paperjam