After a difficult year we are very excited to be able to offer film screenings for our community who have been eagerly anticipating our reopening. So far, the response to our reopening has been great with our first screening “The Welshman” selling out in just 24 hours. Having worked hard over the last 14 months to protect the future of our venue we feel extremely proud to witness it rising from the flames like a phoenix.

“We are mega-excited about playing films again and the plan is for Magic Lantern’s big screen to be in action from Friday 28th May – the start of the Bank Holiday weekend and half-term. We’ve gone from being a cinema for up to 280 people to having socially distanced seating for 30-50 maximum. Tickets are now all in advance, refreshments will be served to people’s seats and we’ll be following all the regs to keep our staff and audiences safe. We’re especially looking forward to Dream Horse and Dogtanian if we can get them booked in. Oh and Peter Rabbit and Nomadland and and and…!”

Roll on 29th May when we can open our doors here in Wales. It’s half term so we’ll be showing Peter Rabbit 2. Theatr Colwyn is the oldest working cinema in the UK and has been showing films since January 1909. The building, built in 1880s, has had just its ghost light for company through 2020 and into this year. This period, even with a closure for refurbishment in 2011, has been the longest time the old building has stayed closed in over 100 years.

We’re really looking forward to having audiences back to Chapter. We have been doing regular online screenings and Watch Along events with Zoom chats with some of our audience in Lockdown, but it is not the same as seeing films on the big screen and talking in person. We have a revamped Café Bar, new art exhibition of Carrie Mae Weem’s work from Artes Mundi and a truly wonderful line up of films including award-winning Nomadland, Sound of Metal, Minari and the Welsh films Dream Horse and Rare Beasts as well as gorgeous cinema from around the world including Gunda, First Cow and the new short from Pedro Almodovar. There are some exciting treats on the way!