India comes to a Shropshire village hall near you
The sights, sounds – and even taste – of India will be coming to rural Shropshire, at village halls around the region.
Flicks in the Sticks, which brings the experience of the movies to rural venues far away from the nearest cinema, will be focusing its lens eastward in the coming months.
To celebrate the 70th anniversary of Indian independence, the scheme, which is part of the Arts Alive charity that aims to deliver the best in culture to rural parts of Shropshire, Herefordshire and the Marches, has put together a short season of films highlighting a country with one of the biggest and most diverse cinema industries on earth.
From the fairy-tale song-and-dance spectacle of Bollywood blockbusters to the films of internationally renowned directors such as Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta and the recent heart-rending Lion, which won co-star Dev Patel a well-deserved BAFTA, India @70 offers a fascinating glimpse into a different world.
Many of the village hall venues are providing complimentary Indian-themed delicacies to add the dimension of taste and smell to the on-screen spectacle. In the film Lion it’s the deep-fried, syrupy, saffron-coloured pastry called jalebi that triggers the adult Saroo’s lost memory of his childhood in Bengal.
At Escleyside Hall in South Herefordshire, the Bollywood epic Devdas, the film that cemented the career of superstar Shah Rukh Khan, comes with a curry supper (lamb or vegan) while at Cawley Hall, Eye near Leominster, an extra £5 guarantees a full Indian feast of tandoori chicken or vegetarian curry, dhal, rice, pickles, naans, papadoms and sweetmeats to accompany the movie. Meanwhile the SpArC Theatre in Bishops Castle, Shropshire as organised a free sari demonstration with Indian treats from The Chai Shop.
Flicks in the Sticks: World has been running through the 2016/17 film season. Funded through the British Film Institute’s Neighbourhood Cinema Scheme, it has encouraged and supported local promoters to make more adventurous choices for their audiences, films that are exciting and enriching but rarely get within a stone’s throw of rural venues.
Eleven screenings of seven Flicks in the Sticks: World titles, including the four India @70 movies, will play at selected Flicks in the Sticks venues in Herefordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire, and Cheshire from May to July. Full details at artsalive.co.uk
