Outside The Mainstream - The Broadway Cinema by Jon Horne 2001 © Touch Nottingham (internet magazine and What's On guide) The Broadway is one of the delights of Nottingham. A comfortable, well-run cinema with a thriving cafe-bar, it is the sort of place where it is possible - and quite normal - to hang around all day without ever going to see a film, if that is what you want to do. While you are doing that, you can read the well-written monthly brochure, and perhaps decide that you want to see a film after all. Daily shows generally begin at 3.30, 6.00, and 8.30 - although this can vary according to the length of the films. At weekends, and on one afternoon in midweek, there is an additional matinee performance. A dominating presence on Broad Street, with a whitewashed facade, marbled steps and pillars, and a tree-shaded terrace, the building itself is grand without being grandiose. As the rest of Hockley and the Lace Market has metamorphosed from funky-chic to outright expensive, the Broadway no longer stands out quite as much as it used to, but it remains a focal point on the fringe of the city centre. The cafe-bar, run by Tynemills, is open from noon until 11pm daily, with food served until 8pm, at which point the lights go down and the candles come out. As with all Tynemills pubs, the food is good, but the beer is pricey, so it's not the best place to do any heavy drinking. Soft drinks and hot drinks are cheap though, and you can sit around sipping something for as long as you like, without any hassle from the (always friendly) staff. As for the cinema itself, the Broadway's two screens show the widest variety of films in the Midlands - from the best of the new releases from outside of the Hollywood mainstream (be they British, American independent, or from elsewhere), to second-run showings of recent hits and misses, to re-issues of great oldies. Admission is currently £4.20 full price; £3.10 concessions (students, unemployed, pensioners, disabled, children under 16); £1.50 children under 12. Midweek matinees cost a flat £2. The idea of an 'art' film can be off-putting. Who wants to see a black-and-white feature where nothing happens for two hours until some anorexic French girl takes her clothes off and the whole thing ends miserably ever after? Well, whilst it's true that some films can be like this, it is also true that any film which doesn't fit into the Hollywood-blockbuster genre will tend to find itself in the 'art' category sooner of later. The function of cinemas like the Broadway is to show anything which the megabuck distributors have missed out on. Sometimes this means foreign-language films - but it's worth pointing out that most films made around the world are no more alienating than 'The Full Monty'. Indeed, it's not such a long time ago (before 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' and 'Trainspotting') that British films were languishing in the same never-shown/never-seen category as any non-Hollywood production. Before coming to Nottingham, I had never seen an old film ('classic' or otherwise) in the cinema, except for Disney cartoons when I was a child. I was missing out. However entertaining they may be on a wet Sunday at home, the likes of 'Casablanca' and 'The Third Man' were not made for television; they were made to be watched on the big screen. An old comedy can benefit hugely from being in a roomful of people laughing, thrillers are that much more thrilling when everyone else is on the edge of their seat, and a visual treat such as 'Yellow Submarine' is simply too much for the TV screen to contain. While most films are shown in standard cinema fashion, as a 'run' lasting a couple of weeks, many of the older films are shown as one-off presentations, or as part of a 'season' - perhaps a weekend of musicals, or a selection from Swedish cinema (hopefully not Swedish musicals - I couldn't sit through 'Dancer in the Dark' again). Every April, the 'Out Of Sight' festival presents three weeks of themed one-offs: this year's version involved jazz (films as well as compilations from television), silent German cinema, and Hammer horror. The Broadway was opened in 1966, by the British Film Institute, as the Nottingham Film Theatre: the first venue of its kind outside London. Before that, the site had been part of the Co-operative Workers Education Department, and the Broadway has always retained a strong commitment to education. Regular courses are run on a variety of film and media subjects. These courses last between five and ten weeks, and the cost usually works out around £4 per week - considerably less with concessions - and this usually includes a couple of free admissions to films relevant to the course. For someone with even a passing interest in film, I can recommend these courses: the standard of teaching is high - drawing tutors from nearby universities as well as from a pool of regular contributors - and pretty much everyone is catered for, from the vaguely curious to the hopeless anorak. Film courses are very popular, so you should book a few weeks ahead: details are always in the brochure. The teaching environment (in a side office) can be fairly cramped - so it's best to bring a clipboard if you want to take notes. A couple of weeks ago, I was watching a film at the Broadway, and my friend started laughing for no apparent reason. As the film hadn't started, and they were showing a particularly humourless advert, I wasn't sure what was going on - until my friend pointed at someone in the next row down, who was contentedly munching organic popcorn. There is no getting around the fact that there are a number of visitors to the Broadway whose idea of junk food is organic popcorn. Very occasionally, one of the Broadway's films will turn out to be a pile of arty-farty nonsense - and the organic popcorn brigade lap it up. These are the sort of people who laugh loudly at Shakespeare's comedies, and you just have to put up with them. Honestly, they are a tiny minority. Funding for the cinema (but not for the cafe-bar) comes from a variety of sources, including the BFI, various European Union funds, the Lottery, and from Nottinghamshire County Council - as well as from schemes such as seat-sponsoring. This is reflected in cheap ticket prices (£1 less than in a mainstream cinema), in providing award-winning facilities for disabled customers, in the Broadway's commitment to education, including the provision of lectures and tutorials for local schools' GCSE and A/S courses - and to supporting local people becoming involved in film-making (Shane Meadows obviously being the most prominent), by way of providing technical assistance, contacts within the industry, and a space to premiere. Next time you are tempted to go into Blockbuster and hire a video, consider a trip to the Broadway instead. The film will probably be better, the environment will make you enjoy it more, and you can have a pint afterwards. - - - For further information, see the Broadway's well-written web site. - - - read more rants and raves