Community Cinema Programme Launches in Ty Pawb

The Wrexham Enterprise Hub’s Community Assistant Pete Rogers caught up with Rob Corcoran from 73 Degree Films to find out about their new community project 73 Cinema.

Hey Rob, first for those who may not know what exactly is 73 Degree Films?

We’re a film production company in Wrexham. We also run a variety of educational and audience access projects of which 73 Cinema is our latest.

You’ve just announced the launch of 73 Cinema, so can you tell me a bit about the project and what was the inspiration behind it?

73 Cinema is a new community lead cinema programme at Ty Pawb in Wrexham, between September and Christmas we’ll be screening a variety of independent films and helping people in Wrexham  have more access to cinema.

We’ve been working with Film Hub Wales, Wrexham Council, BFI & Ty Pawb plus a variety of local organisations to ensure the programme is eclectic and represents everyone in the town.

We really want to ensure that people in Wrexham can access a variety of interesting films year round and after successfully working with Focus Wales to put together the Focus Wales Film Festival this year a natural progression was to continue that work & build on it, creating something programmed & long term.

I think 73 Cinema will be part of a wider network of cinema activity such as Q&A’s with prominent filmmakers, interactive activities for all ages and much more which we’re working on within the next 12 months. 

This is a scheme which is open to anyone from the public to attend so how did you go about curating such a varied programme?

We really wanted to ensure we worked with a diverse range of organisations and film lovers, so we specifically invited individuals from local organisations and members of the public and had a full day at The Wrexham Enterprise Hub discussing all things cinema.

As a group we looked at upcoming events in Wrexham and important dates on the calendar and worked out how we could connect things together which is how we ultimately decided on the programme, asking ourselves what would interest the people of Wrexham & what can they perhaps not currently access in mainstream cinemas or at home. 

Ultimately we want this to be a unique, communal, cinematic experience.

 

As well as the featured films you also have a short film competition running with each event. What’s the thinking behind this and who can get involved?

As part of the programme we’re accepting short film submissions as we’re really interested in increasing access to all forms of film, giving a platform and audience to upcoming, emerging filmmakers.

I’m really keen to encourage submissions from local filmmakers working here in Wrexham. 

In order to do that we’ve ensured there’s 30 minutes before each screening where we can showcase these films and at our final screening we’ll be handing out a selection of awards along with prizes donated by Olfi Cameras, King Street Coffee and Odeon Wrexham.

Lastly if you were to pick an actor to portray you in the Rob Corcoran biography  who would it be?

I’m going to say Harry Styles as I think he would draw in a good audience so we’d stand a chance of breaking even, which is important. We’re a similar age and I think he’d get away with it.

Full timetable and tickets available here : https://www.73degreefilms.com/cinema

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/73degreefilms/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/73degreefilms/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZrKdkGXUVXsi9vxCVHIGzA?

Twitter: https://twitter.com/73degreefilms

All the team here at Town Square are making sure to set these dates aside and getting ready to fill up on popcorn, plus all of us have our fingers crossed for the casing of Harry Styles as Rob