Independent cinemas bring creative curating to Shropshire
Across Shropshire, tickets are selling fast, with some screenings sold out, for this weekend’s film and events weekend, 11–13 July, The Rural Remix.
Shropshire Independent Cinema (SIC) - Ludlow Picture House, Old Market Hall in Shrewsbury, the Wellington Orbit, and Wem Cinema at Wem Town Hall - are uniting animators, critics, ethical food producers, and young talent to ‘redefine the rural’.
The four-cinema partnership champions inventive curation—working with Arts Alive, Shropshire Young Farmers, Appleby’s Dairy, The Shropshire Good Food Trail, The Rare Dairy, and Whitchurch restaurant Docket. Together, they offer “a sense of local community and audience entertainment that simply can’t be matched by your average multiplex,” says Rose Horner, curator at Wem.
Lewis Heriz, animator, offers a free workshop at Ludlow Picture House this weekend
Ludlow Picture House, Old Market Hall, and Wem offer a mix of family favourites, thrillers, and comedies - like The Ballad of Wallis Island (Ludlow Picture House, Saturday 12th July). This British comedy about a folk duo’s last remaining superfan is supported by local folk and ceilidh band, Join The Dots, on Friday 11th July. Also at Ludlow, artist Lewis Heriz, whose clients include Disney, leads a nature-themed animation workshop at Ludlow inspired by Ken Loach’s heartfelt British classic, Kes.
Wellington Orbit adds a gory twist to Pride and Prejudice, Pride and Prejudice with Zombies, and 28 Years Later, plus a spooky VHS treasure hunt involving local businesses. There’s a live Every Movie Ever! podcast recording with audience participation, a secret screening, and an exclusive director interview. On 13 July, a revealing Q&A with award-winning Shropshire stuntman Justin Pearson (James Bond, Wonder Woman) takes audiences behind the scenes of popular movies.
Regenerative food, ethical farming and emotional drama take centre stage with cheese tastings at OMH and Wem and tasting stalls at Wem from The Rare Dairy and the Shropshire Good Food trail. Speakers include Green Festival’s Tish Dockerty and Perry Wood Farm’s Edd Rollings, following the Ludlow screening of the trailblazing farming doc Six Inches of Soil.
A highlight on Saturday 12th July is The Big Cheese-Off at Wem: a Shropshire v. France showdown. The blindfolded judges will be Great British Menu star chef Stuart Collins (Docket 33) and Young Farmers Chair Millie Preece - with the audience providing the decisive vote. This fun event, with cheese tasting notes led by local producer Sarah Appleby, supports the hit French drama about a young farmer, Holy Cow. The film is followed by a Q&A hosted by Little White Lies’ rural-based film critic Soma Ghosh in conversation with Preece, Becky Bain, and Catherine Holbrook of The Rare Dairy - discussing the real lives of young and ethical dairy farmers.
The groundbreaking bring-a-friend-for-free ticket scheme, Films for Farmers, is available at Wem, Ludlow, and Shrewsbury cinemas. Find the discount code here and tickets for all screenings, here.
At OMH, the red carpet Withnail and I gala, curated by the Shropshire Young Curators, Tom Morris, Joe Williams, Luke Bennett, James Yeo, and hosted by BBC Shropshire Film critic Carl Jones, has sold out. The landmark café-cinema is being soundscaped into a 1960s pub, inspired by the iconic British comedy. “We wanted to reflect the boldness of our community’s young talent,” says Amanda Evans, Old Market Hall manager. “Creative curating gives indie cinemas the chance to do that.”
