Free Film Festival in Raynes Park?

I wanted to put out some feelers to gauge potential interest in setting up a Free Film Festival in Raynes Park. The concept of festivals like this has been running for some years (Herne Hill are just embarking on their 12th annual festival) and I ran one for several years in West Norwood, where I used to live.

The idea is that a group of volunteers get together to set up screenings across SW20, utilising venues that perhaps wouldn’t normally screen movies – church halls, shop fronts, open air spaces, for example – showing a range of films from kids’ movies, documentaries to Hollywood blockbusters. Admission would be free and open to all.

The main costs would be licenses for films (unfortunately in the main you can’t get around this), publicity (posters and banners) and the hire of projection equipment. There’s a Free Film Festival network that makes equipment available for rental. Local business sponsorship can help with this – in my experience companies like to be associated with community initiatives like this – and donations from attendees at screenings.

I would stress that any volunteers need not have any previous experience; it’s more about enthusiasm. Apart from a love of movies, when I put on the first West Norwood Festival I had little knowledge of technical stuff, publicity and marketing or seeking sponsorship. But volunteer initiatives like this can be very powerful in the community.

Here’s the link to the Free Film Festival network. If you or any members of your family/friends would be interested in having an initial get together, DM me on Facebook on the Raynes Park Neighbourhood & News page. It would be great to make this work.

https://freefilmfestivals.org/

David Dent

Still from the film P'tang, Yang, Kipperbang, which was filmed around the local area

This site lists the locations for 'P'tang, Yang, Kipperbang': https://www.reelstreets.com/films/ptang-yang-kipperbang/