Previous venues have ranged from the Royal Academy of Arts (Funny Face) to a disused railway tunnel in South London (Gus van Sant's skateboarding movie Paranoid Park) and the events aim to recreate the spirit of the movie being screened. Tickets don't come cheap (they start at £19.50 for students) but subscribers are advised to expect the unexpected and a full night of revelries is promised. Ridley Scott showed up recently to present Alien to a boiler-suited audience at a warehouse in Shoreditch, while real splurge-gun battles were waged at a screening of Bugsy Malone (the clip below gives something of the flavour).
Secret Cinema's latest venture is a tardy Valentine's assignation on 27-28 February: as usual, precise details of the film and venue are withheld until nearer the date. The call goes out to "romantic adventurers, those in love and those seeking love, those feeling sad and those that are happy", and tickets are selling out fast but may still be booked here.
Many (though not all) of Secret Cinema's events are London based. However, on 23 March Birmingham film-goers can catch FW Murnau's silent classic, Sunrise, at St Martin's Church in the Bullring, with a live jazz accompaniment by Alcyona Mick and Robin Fincke. It's the opening film of the Flatpack Festival - whose brief includes "taking film to an eclectic array of unexpected spaces and showcasing eye-popping technological tomfoolery". The full programme will be announced on 22 February; meanwhile initial details are available on the website, www.flatpackfestival.org.
