NEWCASTLE Community Cinema (NCC) is back in action today with its annual Full Moon Film Festival following a nine-month hiatus that's seen big changes for the award-winning group of Co Down movie fanatics.
Established in 2009, the volunteer-run society originally shared premises with amateur dramatics group the Glee Singers at Annsley Hall on Newcastle's South Promenade, where they regularly staged innovative 'event' screenings.
For example, the building was transformed into a bowling alley for their Big Lebowski night, while an 'indoor drive-in' showing of Disney's animated hit Cars found pint-sized punters building their own cardboard cars to sit in via a pre-screening workshop.
However, now NCC have a new permanent home at St Mary's Hall on Main Street.
Those attending the annual Full Moon Film Festival over the next four days will settle into comfortable cinema-style tiered seating to enjoy a selection of films and documentaries projected on to a brand new big screen.
The latter feature, donated to NCC courtesy of funders Film Hub NI (the group are also supported by Newry and Mourne District Council), is a marked improvement over the makeshift affair the group used previously.
"At Annsley Hall, we had to climb up into the eaves to hang a 30ft wide sheet," explains Rob Manley, chairman of NCC, who also owns The Anchor Bar in Newcastle.
"Then we had to take it down again after every screening."
After taking home the coveted Film Society of The Year (FSOTY) Award two years in a row in 2012 and '13 – the first ever 'double' in the awards' history – it was clear that NCC needed a purpose-built home of their own.
Initial plans involved premises at The Belfry on Main Street, a former church that Manley quickly fell in love with.
Sadly, closer inspection revealed "a house of horrors" of damp and leaky roofing. With repair costs judged prohibitive, owners the Parish of Maghera suggested the nearby St Mary's Hall as an alternative.
Local handymen and businesses donated their services, helping to transform this church hall into a fully functional facility that Newcastle Community Cinema can be proud to call their own.
"We've tried to make it feel as much like a cinema as possible, while maintaining its flexibility as a community asset," says the NCC chairman of their new HQ.
The Full Moon Film Festival programme features old favourites (Rebel Without A Cause), UK/Ireland exclusives (acclaimed new Raiders of The Lost Ark-related documentary The Greatest Fan Film Ever Made), kid-friendly attractions (The Borrowers, The Little Mermaid) and foreign-language attractions (award-winning Ukranian drama The Tribe and Swedish comedy drama A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence).
There are also a pair of hit music documentaries, Cobain: Montage of Heck and Amy, plus two factual offerings from Irish director Alex Fegan – who will be hand-delivering a copy of his latest centenarian-centric work Older Than Ireland to the Festival before participating in a post-screening Q&A.
"To combat piracy, a lot of companies will only send out films on special hard drives," explains Manley.
"Luckily, Alex has a personal copy of Older Than Ireland that the distributors are allowing him to bring to us."
There will also be a screening of the new and improved version of Fegan's earlier documentary The Irish Pub, a tribute to traditional family-owned boozers in the Republic newly expanded to cover northern hostelries following feedback received via NCC.
"We showed the original at The Anchor with a craft beer tasting," explains the Co Down film buff and publican of The Irish Pub: Re-Edit.
"Everyone really loved the film – but they were all asking why there were no Northern Irish pubs in it.
"I relayed this to Alex afterwards and a week later he phoned to ask me if I could do some homework for him."
Thus, the newly extended doc now features a selection of vintage Northern Ireland bars, including Mary Margaret's in Hilltown.
While NCC didn't enter the 2015 FSOTY Awards due to their recent hiatus, they were still represented at last week's awards ceremony in Sheffield – as was Northern Ireland's alternative cinema scene.
Last years' overall winners Dungannon Film Club won the Community Award as well as receiving a number of other 'nods'.
"Two of our committee members were told that we changed the whole game for 'film clubs'," reveals the NCC chairman, with obvious pride.
"It's great to get that kind of feedback. We've helped reinvigorate things by offering the social side of cinema in a way that the big multiplexes can't."
:: Full Moon Film Festival programme and tickets available at Newcastlecinema.org.
