With three commercial cinemas, its own film festival and a number of community movie clubs, York is a city that clearly loves motion pictures.
And now a new and unique film night is being added to the mix.
BYOfilm launches on Sunday (August 30). It will show short films made by local people – it stands for “bring your own”.
BYOfilm is the brainchild of Catriona Wright, along with Rebecca Carr from Kiosk on Fossgate, and is inspired by Exploding Cinema in London.
For the launch night she has put together a programme of “inspirational films”, including some by Royal College of Art students and others by York filmmakers.
“The films I have chosen have a feeling of being quite hand made and experimental,” Catriona said.
Among them is Jodie Mack’s Dusty Stacks of Mom – The Poster Project. Catriona says this “this ‘long/short’ film tracks the shifting tastes of a nation through sales in a failing poster business”.
Another is a direct submission from a filmmaker who responded to her callout for films.
And for future BYOFilm nights – they will take place every other month – “the policy is that anything that is sent in will be shown,” Catriona said.
So who will enjoy BYOFilm night?
There’s some great things going on in York at the Basement and with the Aesthetica Short Film Festival.
But this night is for the rest of the time, when the festival isn’t on, and also for those who want to be involved in the making of films.
It’s really nice to sit with people around you and show a film that you’ve made, see their responses and talk about it.
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