Film on film: three directors turn their attention to celebrating cinema

Throughout January, the Showroom is screening three films with a focus on celebrating cinema. The craft of filmmaking is explored from the perspectives of people across the industry, with a love for the big screen taking centre stage in each case. We start with front of house and behind the projectors in Sam Mendes’ (Jarhead, Skyfall, 1917) Empire of Light which fittingly previews on 35mm. Later in the month we head back in time to witness the decadence of Hollywood in the roaring 20s in Damien Chazelle’s (Whiplash, La La Land) Babylon, before we screen Spielberg’s (ET, Jaws, The Post) The Fabelmans, which explores the creative development of a young filmmaker.

Film about film isn’t a new concept; the love-letter-to-cinema trope is tried and tested, with auteurs through the ages keen to portray heartfelt nostalgia for what made them fall in love with the artform in features like Cinema Paradiso, Singin’ in the Rain, Man with a Movie Camera and Peeping Tom. It is unsurprising that during the pandemic, with cinemas closed and the film world on hold, directors Chazelle, Mendes and Spielberg found themselves in an introspective mood and wound up making their own films examining the industry that gave them their creative outlet.

Such pensive filmmaking invites the audience to consider their own relationship with cinema – something I found particularly significant working in film myself, but it is relevant to fans, too. As well as making me consider my path in the industry – from seeing my sister bring a script home from school as a child, to working here at Showroom Cinema – it made me consider a recent event. Over the new year back home in Norfolk, I found a small pocketbook on the history of the Lowestoft Cinema. Inside the book, my late nan had written her memories of spending time with loved ones watching films. As well as providing my nan with those experiences, Lowestoft Cinema survived the World War 2 raids, was a sanctuary for refugees, and even stood in as a morgue. This interesting find echoed the introspective nature of Showroom Cinema’s January programme, and functioned as a reminder that cinemas stand in the heart of our communities and are places of significance. Though they have come under threat in various ways over the years, love of the experience of watching film in a shared space has kept cinema-going alive.

This January, the film industry invites audience members to peer behind the scenes and share in a celebration of the value of cinema-going, past and present. We’d like you to come and do that at Showroom Cinema.

Tickets for Empire of Light, Babylon and The Fabelmans are on sale now.

This article originally appeared in the Sheffield Telegraph.