Tag Archives: Cinema Museum

Paul Gambaccini @ Cinema Museum

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On Sunday 30 April the first granddaddy of pop, the award winning Paul Gambaccini, will be interviewed at the Cinema Museum on a one off night called ‘Desert Island Flicks’. So instead of talking about his passion for tunes, he’ll be chin wagging away about the movies that made him the DJ he is today and why he cares passionately about films. This will be presented in an interview format with film clips and a chance to ask questions to the great man at the end.  And there’s a bar…

In case you’re not in the loop, the Cinema Museum is housed in the former administration block of Lambeth Workhouse, which we wrote about in 2019.   The building would have been the dropping off place for a destitute Charlie Chaplin and his mum and many others on hard times, but for the past 24 years has served as HQ to the museum. The museum has a packed collection of film related ephemera including posters, projectors, scary mannequins, scripts, costumes and lights. Your ticket to this talk will allow you to whiz through some of the museum, which is rarely open to the public. It’s like being dropped into particularly tense episode of Scooby Doo*.

Paul Gambaccini’s ‘Desert Island Flicks’ is on Sunday, 30 April at 19:30, with the doors flying open at 18:30, and tickets can be purchased here. As it’s a couple of weeks away don’t forget to put it in that sparkly pocket diary that we’ve been nagging you good lot to buy for a number of years now. Did we mention there’s a bar? 

* If you’re too young enough to get this reference please ask your parents. 

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Shorts at the Cinema Museum

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And like the prodigal child, or some random naughty kid, we are back and we hope you enjoyed our month of history writing, picked especially for you as they get the most hits the history of Greater Kennington is important.

As you may or may not know, our greatest ‘at risk’ asset in is the wonderful Cinema Museum located in Charlie Chaplin’s old workhouse. To celebrate LGBTQI+ history month they are putting on series of screenings one is coming up this Thursday (the 16th) seems particularly interesting. It’s a series of shorts about aging, coming out later in life, and disabilities. Afterwards there is a QA and we all have a chance to ask the directors and actors questions about making and acting in the films. And there’s a bar. We’ve been to a number of shorts screenings at the London Film Festival; they’re great fun and an intriguing way to learn more about how films are made.

If you’ve never been to the Cinema Museum it’s a treasure trove of cinematic ephemera and your ticket to this event will allow you access to check out some of it, from ticket stubs to chairs, lighting and props. And the films are shown amongst the collection. A great even night out regardless of sexuality or even if you’re not a film buff. Did we mention there’s a bar? 

Doors open at 18:00 for a 19:00 start this Thursday and tickets can be purchased here for £8 a pop. A lot cheaper than the BFI.

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Vito Project at the Cinema Museum

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Under the guise of ‘better late than never’ on this, the last day of LGBTQI+ history month, were here to tell you about some interesting films coming up at our very much loved and very much at risk Cinema Museum in Kennington. And by ‘at risk’ we mean ‘we better start going soon or it’s gonna be a Taco Bell’. 

The Vito Project is an LGBTQ+ Film Club which has a series of Spring screenings exploring queer representation in classic Hollywood flicks. The first of these is the Hitchcock Film ‘Rebecca’ with Laurence Olivier. There’s a conversation afterwards and it allows film buffs and their admirers a chance to discuss the coded queer meaning in the film and other films of the era. And there’s a bar in the cinema. It’s on 20 March and tickets can be purchased here. On 1 May the next Vito film will be ‘Tea and Sympathy’ directed my Vincente Minnelli (tickets here) followed by ‘Compulsion’ with Orson Wells on 31 May (tickets here). This will also involve a bar and lively chit chat afterwards.

A couple of Runoff fans went to Vito a dew years ago and confirmed that it’s very thought provoking for anyone interested in film.  The Cinema museum is a wonderful Aladdin’s cave of film and film related ephemera and your ticket allows you to pass through some of the corridors that are usually open only by appointment. And the auditorium is a fun mess of mismatched chairs and sofas. And did we mention the bar? 

Some of the screenings are a bit far from now but this is gives you the perfect opportunity to buy that lovely pocket diary we’re always bullying you into getting. Here’s one in sparkly gold

The Cinema Museum

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Our beloved little that museum that could, the wonderful Cinema Museum, reopened its doors last week after being shut for over 18 months. We always think of the Cinema Museum as like that slightly dotty aunt Vera you have always been meaning to visit in Norfolk. You kind of forget about it and until your mum calls you in floods of tears to announce that Vera is no longer of this mortal coil.

The Cinema Museum is housed in the former administration block of Lambeth Workhouse. We wrote about it in 2019  and this building would have been the dropping off place for a destitute Charlie Chaplin and his mum. For the past 22 years it has served as HQ to the Museum and it’s fascinating and packed collection of film related ephemera including posters, projectors, scary mannequins, scripts, costumes and lights. This collection is only on view if you go for a film viewing or book a private tour with a volunteer, but doing either is easy. 

The Museum has a large viewing area amongst the historical pieces (plus a bar) and puts on a variety of talks, film series, and films both old and new. Just before closure director Ken Loach introduced a series of shorts, In the coming weeks they will be showing ‘Hairspray’, ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’, and very intriguing sounding film series called ‘Women and Cocaine’. They also have film related events relating to people like Laurel and Hardy, in addition to silent flicks. All can be found on their website. 

The Cinema Museum has always required the patronage of Greater Kenningtonians to keep it afloat and it now needs us as never before. If we fail to visit we might wake up one day and find it’s gone the path of dear aunty Vera. But worse, aunty Very will be in heaven and not reincarnated as an estate agent, barber shop, coffee shop or…….wait for it… Franco Manca pizza.