Keep it reel Clubs drive a celluloid resurgence

A ballooning number of groups dedicated to cinema in its original medium are springing up across the UK. They explain its thrills and challenges

- Steph Green

As staff read out fire safety precautions and evacuation procedures before a 35mm nitrate print screening of Black Narcissus at the British Film Institute (BFI), the packed crowd titter in excitement and anticipation. How often do you go to the cinema with an awareness that the film you are watching is being physically unspooled, live, with a possibility of combustion due to the ultra-flammable material it contains?

The desire to watch films projected on film is on the rise across the UK – and the number of repertory film clubs dedicated to analogue screenings is ballooning. Sheffield-based Reel Steel seek out rare gems – “doing the detective work to find 35mm prints ... can be a year-round task ”, says founder Joseph Harris. Manchester-based Certificate X Cult Film Screenings and Bristol’s Hellfire Video Club show B-movie or cult fare. In London, the Nickel is about to open as a “grindhouse” cinema, purveyors of “the most subversive, bewildering, sensational, fearless, sublime, shocking, transgressive, death-defying, psychedelic, psychotronic, bizarre, rebellious, baffling, degenerate cinematic treasures”.