Latest news with #cultfilms
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Prince Charles cinema looks to expand to second venue in east London
The Prince Charles cinema is planning to expand to a second site in the capital despite being locked in a battle over the future of its original location in central London. The independent cinema, which is known for showing a wide-ranging selection of cult films from across the history of cinema, has put in a bid to take over and reopen what was the Stratford Picturehouse in east London. The Prince Charles is in negotiations with Zedwell LSQ Ltd (which is owned by the developers Criterion Capital) over the future of the Leicester Square site, but wants to expand in what could be the first of several new outposts. 'Given what's happened this year, I understand how it could look like we're trying to shift operations but that's not what's happening,' said Paul Vickery, the cinema's head of programming. 'We were looking for a pre-existing venue that needed a bit of love which we could turn into a new site. Ideally, we'd want to go on to add a third or fourth space.' The Prince Charles had looked previously into taking over the Filmhouse in Edinburgh, which was forced to close in 2022 before it reopened in June this year after a refurbishment. Vickery thinks Stratford – an area that has undergone huge regeneration over the past decade, boosted by the Olympic legacy of London 2012 – could be an ideal place to open a new outpost. 'Stratford has always been a hub,' he said. 'There are plenty of students and loads of new-build properties that have sprung up recently. But it also feels like it's still trying to find its feet and figure out what it is.' The Prince Charles Cinema East would join other cultural institutions such as Soho Theatre Walthamstow, Sadler's Wells East and the V&A East Storehouse in that part of London, while the Theatre Royal Stratford East would be a nearby neighbour. The cinema has high-profile international fans, including the directors Paul Thomas Anderson, Quentin Tarantino and John Waters. It was opened as a live theatre in 1962 and taken over as a repertory cinema in 1991 with cut-price seats. When news broke that the cinema could be forced out of its original location in Leicester Square, a petition against the move generated 100,000 signatures in a single day. Vickery said: 'The response was so humbling, I knew we'd have a load of interest in helping us out but the volume of support and speed with which it spread was a surprise. 'You feel the responsibility but in the best possible way. You're not just some pokey cinema in central London, what we do means something to people.'
The Guardian
24-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Jules Walter obituary
My godfather Jules Walter, who has died aged 96, was a pioneering actor and cultural mainstay of Notting Hill, west London. He appeared in several British television dramas and cult films in the 1970s and 80s, including The Wild Geese (1978), James Bond: A View to a Kill (1985), Doctor Who, Blake's 7 and The Professionals. Though often in supporting or uncredited roles, Jules was part of a generation of Caribbean actors who made inroads in British film and television at a time of limited opportunity. Off-screen, his home became a hub for artists, activists and intellectuals. Guests included the civil rights activist Stokely Carmichael (later Kwame Ture), who would often stay with Jules when in London, and the Labour peer Lord David Pitt, reflecting post-Windrush Black political life in Britain. Born in St John's, Antigua, Jules was a descendant of both formerly enslaved Africans and European slave owners, and as such his family bridged the usual divides of race, class and privilege. His father, Ronald Walter, a business owner, was killed when Jules was 12, and after his mother, Vioney (nee Edwards), a seamstress, migrated to the US in search of work, he was raised by his grandmothers, one of whom was head of the grammar school on the island, which Jules attended. After school, he was employed as an agricultural cadet for Antigua Sugar Estates, and became one of the first Black plantation managers, a job he did for 12 years. In 1955 he travelled to London, staying with his uncle Carl Walter, a musician and actor, in the Notting Hill area. Carl introduced him to contacts in the entertainment industry and Jules began auditioning for film and television roles, as well as landing modelling jobs for Vogue, Tatler and Vanity Fair. He quickly became embedded in the Caribbean community in west London. However, this was a time of racial tensions in the UK, and the murder of his cousin Kelso Cochrane in 1959 politicised Jules, and led him to become part of the activist community organising in the neighbourhood. With the rise of a new wave of cultural activism, Jules joined the Edric Connor Agency (later run as the Afro-Asian-Caribbean Agency) that helped provide opportunities for Black and minority ethnic artists in the UK. He also joined the Negro Theatre Workshop (NTW), one of the first Black British theatre companies. He was particularly proud of being in The Black Macbeth, an all-Black casting of Macbeth at the Roundhouse theatre in north London in 1972. From the 1980s, Jules spent winter months each year in Antigua. He acquired Coates Cottage in St John's, which he transformed into a cultural centre and archive, showing Caribbean artists including his cousin Frank Walter, who represented Antigua at the 2017 Venice Biennale. Jules is survived by two children, Carl and Rene, from a marriage to Mopile, which ended in divorce, a son, Bismarck, from another relationship, and by three grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
The Sun
22-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Iconic ‘secret' UK cinema famed for showing cult movies & loved by Hollywood stars ‘fighting for survival'
TUCKED away down an unassuming side street in London's famous West End is a "secret" cinema beloved by Hollywood art brats. The Prince Charles Cinema opened 60 years ago as a regular theatre and then briefly a "film house of ill repute" where it showed soft porn. 8 8 8 As time went on, the cinema - just around the corner from bustling Chinatown and towering ODEON multiplex - became famous for showing cult and hard-to-find movies. In the 1980s it specialised in controversial horror flicks like The Evil Dead and even hosted the world premier of Hellraiser in 1987. In 1991 it largely became a repertory cinema, specialising largely in older classics and second-runs of films a few years after general release. It also regularly hosts sing-a-long versions of The Sound of Music and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The Prince Charles has just two auditoriums, with capacity for around 400 people, and prides itself on being a time capsule of movie theatres from the past - before the multiplex invasion. Hollywood A-list praise Directors such as Paul Thomas Anderson and John Waters have praised the venue - with Quentin Tarantino, a major champion of edgy B-movies and grind house, calling it 'everything an independent movie theatre should be". However, with the lease up in less than three months, its billionaire landlord Asif Aziz - dubbed "Mr West End" - has reportedly demanded double the rent, throwing its future into doubt. Cinema managing director Ben Freedman told The Sun talks about the venue's future appeared to breakdown earlier this year. He said: "We don't want to fight, to run a campaign. We want to run a cinema." And for Mr Freedman and his staff they have unwittingly become the face of a fight for the soul of the West End itself. The 64-year-old told The Sun that the area - fame as a glitzy arts hub - has been "hollowed out" as creatives are forced to go elsewhere in the city due to developers. Hotel tycoon Mr Aziz is one of the biggest landowners in Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus, as well as being a philanthropist - his foundation funds community work, arts, culture and research. But he's not popular at Prince Charles Cinema. The bosses at the Leicester Square venue allege the rent increase is an attempt to get them out once their lease ends in September 2025, in order to shut the cinema and redevelop the property as a hotel. And it seems that all of London - and all of Hollywood - has rallied to its defence. Heartthrob Paul Mescal - who recently starred in blockbuster Gladiator 2 - called the potential closure "incredibly disheartening" and told GQ: "It's imperative that this cultural institution does not close its doors." Christopher Nolan - the genius director behind Inception and Interstellar - proclaimed: " Film culture in Great Britain is unthinkable without the Prince Charles." Westminster Council recently made the cinema an asset of community value, calling it a "cultural landmark that brings so much life, character, and cinematic adventure to the West End". 8 8 Mr Freedman told us: "It goes back a couple of years when we first started talking about renewing our lease. In the first couple of meetings it was relatively friendly. "Early last year it got to a point where they were trying to raise our rent. We had reports from surveyors and reports on the market rates and said what we thought the rent should be. "But they wanted double. That was the beginning of this. "Then there were talks about redeveloping the building. We put out the petition and got this incredible wave of support from our audiences. "We saw this coming and put money aside a few years ago for this fight. "But this isn't what we want to be doing. We don't want to fight, to run a campaign. We want to run a cinema." He added: " Hotels are nice, but in the West End? What if it all turned into hotels? "I've worked in Soho for 40 years. It's a community. It's an area that is unique - there isn't anywhere like it in the world. Not LA, not New York, nowhere. "It is a place for creatives, for cinema, for the film industry - but everyone is moving out to different places across the city now. It's been hollowed out. "The things that people used to come to the West End for are no longer here." Hell of a fight He said that central London seems to just be for tourists now. But instead of giving into the weight of the ultra-wealthy landlord, the small cinema is determined to put up a hell of a fight. And the film lovers of London have come out in full force to support it. Mr Freedman said: "We have been very very busy recently. From people who haven't come here in a while to people who have never been. "It is not a sense of sadness here, but more of standing up for ourselves. We want to stay in the West End. We want to continue to bring films to our audiences." We have bent over backwards to try to negotiate with him. He doesn't seem to want to talk to us, he ignores us, then goes and makes out that he's the aggrieved one. It's frustrating. Ben NeedhamPrince Charles Cinema MD Referring to Mr Aziz, he added: "The spirit of our relationship…I have not enjoyed it. "We have bent over backwards to try to negotiate with him. He doesn't seem to want to talk to us, he ignores us, then goes and makes out that he's the aggrieved one. It's frustrating. "It's a consistent pattern here, we are not alone. And that is unfortunate. "The support we have had has been wonderful. Our ticket-buying public have put their money where their mouth is." Just 20 minutes down the road, the world's first YMCA club is fighting the same battle - against the same mega-rich businessman. In February, members of Central YMCA exchanged heartbroken hugs as it closed its doors for the last time. The huge 116,000 sq ft building on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, near the British Museum, was sold to Aziz's company Criterion Capital in December. The YMCA club had 3,600 members and saw 10,000 people use it regularly and they fought to keep it open, even submitting a failed High Court injunction application. Criterion has a luxury Zedwell hotel next door and the club members fear their community hub will be incorporated into the building. David Bieda, who is in his 60s, used the YMCA three times a week. He told The Sun what is happening with the YMCA and the Prince Charles is just the start of a wider problem in the city. "What if this happened to every single community space in England?" he said. "There need to be protections. It's happening all over the place. "If the whole thing was demolished and turned into hotels then it would be far more profitable. But what happens to the community? "It will have a big impact on those who use it. For the YMCA, people in their sixties like me go there a lot - it has arts, sports, pottery…all in one building. That is very unusual. I go to three classes a week there. "We've all written to Asif Aziz. We've had no response. He's been trying to get this space for ages. It's happening all over the place." The Sun has approached Mr Aziz for comment. 8 8
