“Local Heroes” is a free-to-read Vague Visages column dedicated to movie theater memories and the theatrical experience.

In 2015, I headed into the English countryside of Cambridge to study my bachelor’s degree in Media at Anglia Ruskin University. Despite the fact that the entire circumference of Cambs is less than an hour end to end, it is classed as a city, which reaps the benefits of surrounding wildlands, which are anchored by shops, restaurants and art centres. It is a thriving area, inhabited by local residents and students from all corners of the globe attending both universities. Cambridge has always been a friend to the arts, with two music venues, the Corn Exchange and Cambridge Junction, serving as beloved indie-artist hotspots. In addition, the Cambridge Arts Theatre puts on a range of plays throughout the year. I spent three years in the city during my undergraduate years, and have continued to visit since moving to London, as Cambridge is a convenient 50-minute train ride from London Liverpool Street or Kings Cross, and connects you to the rest of East Anglia. 

I used to spend many hours losing myself in cobblestone cafes to read my books, and taking out pints on the river for a leisurely row. One afternoon, I took a walk into town, passed the packed Weatherspoon’s pub and noticed a small door to the right — that was the first time I walked into Arts Picturehouse Cambridge. The elegant decor and regal-styled wallpaper felt luxurious for a cinema, with plush red chairs dotted around the room and notice-boards with comments from locals about the films they’d seen that week. Arts Picturehouse Cambridge is a grand old cinema with three screens, a community spirit and selection of films that exposed me to the world of international cinema. It is run by Picturehouse Cinemas Ltd and owned by Cineworld, while running its own distribution arm, Picturehouse Entertainment. 

The history of the cinema, from the Picturehouse website, is as follows: 

“First opened in 1937, the Regal cinema was redeveloped as a two-screen ABC movie theatre in 1972 and operated as such until it closed in 1997. The site was taken on by Wetherspoons and reopened in 1999, with a pub on the ground floor and the three-screen Arts Picturehouse taking over the remaining space. The opening of the Arts Picturehouse coincided with the closure of the Arts Cinema in Market Passage, which had previously been the home of art-house cinema in Cambridge.”

Arts Picturehouse Cambridge is very much home to arthouse cinema, and guarantees an incredible selection of films that cater to family audiences, international film festival favourites and beloved classics. This diversity means that many of us had the opportunity to see exclusive new releases, from being blown away by Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters to dancing around to Michael Caine’s My Generation autobiography and attending a satellite Q&A after the film. Yet it was not just these screenings which introduced people to different styles of cinema. By having frequent Q&A’s and guest interviews, Arts Picturehouse Cambridge created a collective environment where strangers could bond over the films’ themes, and it felt like an open space to hold discussions and really get into the heart of the filmmaking process. The building itself is also laid out in a way that feels stylish, cosy and brings people together. As you head up the stairs from the ground floor, which also has good disability access points, you are greeted by a foyer with large garnet-coloured sofas, natural light from the regal-décor windows and screens showing the latest film trailers. To your left is the Picturehouse café, which offers an affordable range of drinks, including local beers and baked treats. It looks out over the old streets, and is used as an exclusive screening space when not offering up fresh pastries and a local-brewed pint before a film. To your right is the ticket counter, where you can buy confectionery and snacks, and read the notice board detailing the month’s coming events. You then head up to another floor, where the three screens hide behind different doors, all equally possessing high quality sound systems and blissfully comfy chairs with great views from every angle. It is a cinema that provides a pleasurable visit, from collecting your ticket to watching a film’s closing titles. 

The cinema is also geared towards the public, and has always tried to keep prices reasonable and runs various club events that benefit all ages groups. The £7.90 price for student members attending Happy Monday screenings was always a highlight considering the extortionate prices of mainstream chains, and families could also get a group ticket for £33.60 on a weekend or bank holiday. There are also discounted tickets for screenings that are autism-friendly, dementia-friendly and toddler-friendly, which shows Arts Picturehouse Cambridge’s progressiveness in understanding the needs of a diverse audience. 

I spent many an evening at Arts Picturehouse Cambridge with friends as an audience member. As the months went on during my second year of university, we arrived in October for the start of the 37^th Cambridge Film Festival. Arts Picturehouse Cambridge has been one of the central venues for the festival, which has been running for 39 years now and is one of the UK’s oldest film events. It attracts a large public attendance, as well as big directors and stars, and invites students along as volunteers so they can get an insider view of how a festival is run. They are also partnered with Take One Magazine, which is an independent film publication that’s responsible for the official coverage of the CFF, and also takes on student writers. In 2017, as a budding film critic, I had my first festival experience. As part of a team of new writers, we had access to all the films at the festival, and a room to work in for 10 days; an ideal opportunity to work with editors and get valuable interview practice with filmmakers and actors. My first discussion was with Erlingur Thoroddsen, the director of the Icelandic horror-noir Rift . We talked about Nordic cinema, filmmaking on a budget and shooting mountainous landscapes. We sat in the bar with gin and tonics, and his stories inspired me to explore other indie gems such as Rams and Thoroddsen’s other horror masterpiece Child Eater. I experienced one of the most heart-breaking films of all time at the festival that year with It’s Not Yet Dark, a documentary which illuminates the misconceptions around Motor Neurone Disease. In 2019, I fell in love with the moving LGBTQ+ Georgian drama And Then We Danced. During 2018, I sat down in the second floor lobby of Arts Picturehouse Cambridge and interviewed Gwendolyn Leick, the titular subject of Ruth Kaaserer’s documentary Gwendolyn, and heard the adventures of her life as an athlete and academic while shedding tears at her pride as the mother of three children. I’ve spent year after year sat in that lobby, conducting interviews about the beauty of human nature and what we hold valuable to us in life, and these intimate human interactions are moments I’ll cherish forever. 

I also worked closely with the Cambridge Film Festival team, which allowed me to understand festival acquisitions, distribution, marketing and the importance of teamwork. The way Arts Picturehouse Cambridge was able to facilitate both the Take One and CFF teams was a joy — whether you are audience member or involved in the festival, it really begins to feel like home. In 2019, I was invited to be part of the Cambridge Film Festival Youth Jury, where we chose County Lines as our winner, just as the drug-trafficking scandal of the county lines trafficking hit national news. After attending both screenings, I was shaken by how violent the grooming criminal network is in this country, and by the way Henry Blake captures the severity of the scandal while exploring the devastating relationship between the characters. I was also a short film submission reviewer, which included giving film introductions to the audience before the screenings. This was also my first experience being involved on the programming side of the CFF, and being up on stage as a moderator. I was thrilled to introduce Werner Herzog’s insightful Japanese-located documentary Family Romance, LLC  and the 1972 nostalgia screening of Cabaret. All the screens are tiered in a slightly angular format, and so it is quite an intimidating space to stand upon the stage and give a short speech. Getting to experience a packed-out cinema for the first regional screening of Portrait of a Lady on Fire is an emotional moment I’ll never forget.

Arts Picturehouse Cambridge has also been a crucial pillar in the community for the celebration of female filmmakers and directors around the world. The venue hosts the Reel Women event every month, which programs 10 to 15 short films for free, with introductions from the team about the films that open up a space for debate and conversation after the screenings. I started attending these screenings as a way to expose myself to more international films, and it manifested into a collective space of questioning how the industry can do better by female filmmakers, how local cinemas can support them by giving these women curated exposure. The Reel Women team, which included diverse fans of cinema and those of us working in the industry from different backgrounds, would meet in the Picturehouse café to plan our programming selection, delegate research tasks and discuss how to use the space for screening the shorts. It was lovely that we had fresh food and drink from the café that people could purchase for the free screening event, and the layout allowed people to sit at various tables and united people who came alone. Being able to host this kind of shorts programme is unique, and demonstrates how important the venue is for promoting grassroots projects and community-led initiatives. Audience members were able to come along to an affordable, creative and feminist event which birthed wonderful discussions about international cinema, female filmmakers and remarkable short films. 

Arts Picturehouse Cambridge unearthed the feisty, passionate person that I am today, and made me want to help change the cinematic landscape for the better. The opportunity to be a student critic shaped my career, and I’m proud of this cinema that has always been a champion of feminist, female-directed films. From watching back to back screenings of Icelandic and Turkish films to tentatively raising a hand at the Q&A events, it was the films and talks at Arts Picturehouse Cambridge that made me want to challenge the politicized agenda of the film industry that churns out blockbusters and production-lined dramas. One day, I hope to contribute in programming more indie arthouse films. Cambridge is a small English town that is brimming with a healthy cultural cinema life, and Arts Picturehouse Cambridge has become a movie paradise for many of us. 

Elle Haywood (@ellekhaywood) is a freelance film/culture writer, festival juror and submissions reviewer. She is currently an Associate Editor at Take One and studying a Masters at the National Film & Television School. Her work specialises in international festivals focusing on Scandinavia and Western Europe, sociopolitical events and independent filmmaking.