The Last Picture Show

The Last Picture Show
a film festival celebrating 16 years of The David Lean Cinema

Croydon 1st – 21st April 2011

With very special guest curators Ronnie Corbett and Julian Fellowes

For three weeks in April Croydon ‘s David Lean Cinema is staging a rather unique film festival, a festival that will be by its nature the first and last of its kind, one that  will be remembered long after the final curtain falls…Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to The Last Picture Show.

The David Lean Cinema has for 16 years been a shining light of high quality, independent arts provision in central Croydon. With 68 seats it was never going to compete with it’s larger competitors, but with a dedicated and adventurous audience it fought a good fight and has firmly established itself as the very model of an independent, community cinema.

Due to the wide-ranging cuts made by Croydon Council the cinema will close forever at the end of April, but far from going quietly The David Lean Cinema is celebrating 16 years of fiercely independent programming with a brand new film festival with three special guest curators Ronnie Corbett, Lord Julian Fellowes and our audience!

The Last Picture Show is a festival like no-other, a fitting tribute to 16 years of cinematic excellence, with a programme made up of one-off screenings, special events and old favourites, it promises to reflect the very special place that The David Lean Cinema has in hearts of many Croydon resident and for this unique cinema to bow out on a high.

The David Lean is an antidote to the impersonal and all consuming multiplexes, a respite from the pressures of everyday life and most importantly to be a welcoming environment where you can escape the rain and be entertained. We have over the years built up a dedicated and adventurous audience, particularly from the older sections of Croydon’s community and The Last Picture Show is our way of saying thank you for the years of support.

It wasn’t hard to think of the two men we should ask to curate our goodbye festival and it is a rather fine stroke of luck that they both agreed! As arguably Croydon’s best-known resident (certainly the only one who can be recognised by only the outline of his glasses) and keen Ronnie Corbett is a patron of the arts and has had a life-long love affair with movies and his choices show a deep appreciation of the golden age of cinema.

Barron Fellowes of West Stafford (to give him his full title) is an Oscar winning script writer, actor, director and novelist. A cinematic polymath who wrote ‘Gosford Park, the highest grossing film in our cinema’s history and reinvigorated a beleaguered ITV with his all conquering series ‘Downton Abbey’.  He is the man who redefined the quintessential English drama, supremely erudite in his depiction of the subtle nuances and prejudices of the class system, exposing its weaknesses when faced by the inevitable and seemingly vulgar onslaught of modernity, but as we at The David Lean Cinema can certainly attest – the only content is change….

See the full brochure here.....