miniciné

Leeds is home to many a hidden gem and certainly when it comes to cinema and a night out at the pictures you couldn’t find more compelling settings than the Hyde Park Picture House or Cottage Road Cinema. However, there is one more! and it’s tucked inside (the criminally undervalued) Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills.  With just 26 seats, the former Armley Palace Picture Hall of Eyres street, was recreated and brought back to life as part of the museum’s cinema gallery. It retains many of the original features complimented by faithful replicas.  Not only that, its size makes it the second smallest film theatre in the country.

Seeing the potential of the cinema, and in partnership with the Museum, once a month miniciné takes over the little theatre, serving up a warm welcome with tea, homemade cake and of course a decent film.

Taking place every third Thursday, the miniciné film nights started back in April and are now launching their Autumn/Winter programme. Run entirely by volunteers, the philosophy is to show anything new, underground, different and unconventional. There’s also a platform for short films, seeking out home-grown filmmakers and those mini-features that see little light beyond the film festival circuit.

They will be seeing out the year with screenings such as the forgotten British classic Bronco Bullfrog and uncompromising Isreali/Palestinian multi-character crime drama Ajami.   This will be the only Leeds screening of the mod culture love story Bronco Bullfrog, which has recently seen a re-release from the British Film Institute.

The August screening is fast approaching, fans of horror and Asian-extreme cinema take note, as Park Chan-wook’s Thirst will be shown; a vampire chiller concerning a priest whose life takes a turn for the worst after he participates in a medical experiment to find a cure for a deadly disease. For more information about this film, the programme, tickets or to get involved see the miniciné website .