The opening of the Southsea Community Cinema and Arts Centre (SCCAC) has for many creatives and students in the Portsmouth area answered the question of whether Portsmouth is a hub for creativity. This vital new centre has opened in the heart of the city, offering a space for local cinephiles and filmmakers to get together, network and share their passion for film.
For the founders of the Southsea Cinema Community and Art Centre, Aysegul Epengin and Simon Knight, this was a prominent factor in founding Palmerston road’s latest treasure. “When I came to Portsmouth”, Epengin says, “there was no art cinema around. I’m a filmmaker and I wanted to have somewhere around to go see foreign cinema and arthouse films like how I used to back when I was living in Istanbul. Whilst I was teaching, my students asked me, as well, where they could go watch these kinds of films in the area; with not a lot being available. And, suddenly, I was inspired to start up a film exhibition”.
The multi-purpose centre has been a gracious gift to Southsea over the last year since its official opening in May. The cinema itself is a 35 seater and has already shown recent phenomenons like Everything Everywhere All At Once to classic arthouse films like Eraserhead and foreign language gems like Loro.
The cinema itself is the definition of cosy; almost acting as an intimate affair with the film itself being shown at the centre. When a screening is popular and sold out, the magic of the small cinema unites a room of film lovers to embark on a unique journey in watching the same film that can’t always be experienced in the same way in a large, commercial cinema. And when it’s a quieter screening, it is like watching a film in the comfort of your home yet with a sense of luxury.
The Southsea Community Cinema and Arts Centre considers itself a multi-purpose centre, proud of its city centred-location, offering its spaces out to anyone wanting to have a private screening for their exclusive group or looking for somewhere to host an open mic, for example. Another massive attribute of the centre that makes it so attractive to the public is one of its pillars of inclusivity. “We have lots of elderly people coming in for certain events-and they’re just dancing in the middle of the room saying: this is amazing. I don’t need to go far to watch a film or have some entertainment. I can just come here. They don’t want to travel far at night to have a nice time”. The centre also has specific workshops and sessions aimed at those with learning disabilities, matinee shows aimed at parents with young children or babies and is accessible to wheelchair users and those with physical disabilities; with the main area being on the ground floor and not designed with the typical cinema staircase but one that everyone is welcome.
In the wake of their success, the cinema is clearly an antidote to Portsmouth’s lack of exposure to film and cinema culture. However, both Epengin and Knight agree that Portsmouth still has so much potential when it comes to cinema exhibition.
“I think it needs more exposure to the arts in general”, Knight says, “the council gets into these kinds of things and gets behind them because this is where new things happen and gives people a place to connect.” But overall, as all things go, it comes down to the community to spread the word and contribute to this exposure of the arts, something that the centre has had its’ ups and downs with achieving, for example, getting a spotlight on local radio stations. “People often talk about supporting community a lot, but to actually support it, is a whole different ball game”.
This is specifically vital when it comes to meeting the cinema’s goals for the upcoming year. The centre is currently volunteer-run and reliant on funders. “We want to become more sustainable at some stage we need to make a profit. We’d like to eventually be able to hire people and make this into a business. And we need community engagement to count on this happening”.
Everyone who attends the cinema regularly for either film viewings, workshops or whatever wonders the Southsea Community Cinema and Art Centre has to offer understands and cherishes the value that the centre has given it. Hopefully, the community will get behind this venture and ensure it becomes a permanent fixture of the city’s cultural offer.
By Kearin Green
