The Nomad Cinema pops up in another stunning location...
We Brits are always talking about the weather. After a week of miserable overcast days, we finally saw the sun again this weekend, but still, come Monday, people were praying for a quick shower “to freshen up this heat a bit”. And now it’s overcast and we’re complaining again. You really can’t please us.
And yet we seem to love going outside in all elements. Every year we trudge off to huge music festivals praying for sunny weather and returning muddy and contented. Glastonbury isn’t Glastonbury unless you’ve had to sacrifice your tent, half your belongings and quite possibly your firstborn to the churning quagmire that appears when you add water to earth and have 100,000 people stampede across it. This year, not a particularly wet year I might add, even those festivals that are renowned for their good weather have suffered. Isle of Wight had its first rainy festival in years. I pity those going to Reading and Leeds – odds are the law of sod will make fools of you all.
But what is the other option? To retreat to our couches and watch DVD after DVD, laughing at the bipolar British weather from the safety of our homes? Well, that’s no fun.
The annual film screenings at Somerset House are a hit...
Thankfully some bright spark came up with – well, borrowed – the idea of taking another form of inside entertainment and putting outside: cinema. With box office takings on the rise there is no shortage of demand for film, and the capital has a proliferation of open air screenings that allow you to sit and grumble about the weather for a few hours whilst watching the latest cinema or a beloved film classic. Then, when the credits start to roll, you can head home to that sofa…
Of course, the most famous of London’s summertime open air cinemas is Film4 Summer Screen at Somerset House with American Express®. Its impressive season opens tonight with the UK premiere of Pedro Almodovar’s The Skin I Live In, and takes in classics like Chinatown and Thelma & Louise, as well as special screenings of recent cinema releases such as Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. But tickets for this event sold out ages ago – I’d almost forgotten I’d booked to see Thursday’s The Spy Who Loved Me (review to follow) until the reminder arrived in my mailbox this week. So how can the spontaneous filmgoer benefit from these innovative events?
Hampton Court hosts a special screening of this classic on Saturday...
Well, luckily, The Nomad cinema has come to town. Lexi Cinema present The Nomad driven by Saab, to give the initiative its full title, is a roving screen that pops up in some of the capital’s best loved locations. This weekend sees screenings at Bushy Park, Hyde Park Lido and Hampton Court Palace, with films such as The Birds, Fitzcarraldo and The King’s Speech on the bill. There’s even a special screening of Inception using The Houses of Parliament as a backdrop next Thursday.
The jewel in their crown comes this Saturday, when The Nomad Cinema is presenting a special screening of Breakfast at Tiffany’s as part of the 50th Anniversary of this much loved classic film. Star Audrey Hepburn sadly lost her life to cancer in 1993, and so The Nomad has teamed up with Cancer Research UK and 15% from each ticket sale will be donated to the charity in her honour. Breakfast at Tiffany’s is part of a weekend of The Nomad Cinema screenings at the stunning Hampton Court Palace, home to one of the most famous monarchs of our time, King Henry VIII, and steeped in royal history. And with screenings across the capital for the next two months, why not enjoy one of your favourite films in a new setting and brave the unpredictable British weather?
Kudos to you for attempting to review The Spy Who Loved Me.
Very nice blogpost u have written!