Crystal Palace Community Cinema featured in Southwark News

We’re delighted to see Crystal Palace Community Cinema featured in Southwark News, ahead of our first screening this October.

The feature explores the story behind the cinema and our ambition to create an affordable, sociable and adventurous community cinema shaped by the people and places of Crystal Palace.

Speaking to Southwark News, John-Paul Pierrot explained how visits to community cinemas elsewhere in South London helped inspire the project, and why Crystal Palace felt like the perfect place to start one.

Our aim is to take cinema beyond the traditional auditorium, bringing screenings to different spaces around Crystal Palace and creating events that feel connected to the area. Alongside independent, international, documentary, classic and overlooked films, we want to celebrate South London stories and rediscover films with a special connection to our neighbourhood.

That starts this October with our first screening, Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers, starring Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal. Haigh grew up in nearby Croydon, making his beautiful and deeply moving film a fitting choice for our opening night.

As John-Paul told Southwark News:

“Community cinemas only work if people turn up. So whether you’re someone who watches films every week or you haven’t been to the cinema for years, we want this to feel welcoming and accessible.”

We’re starting small, but we hope Crystal Palace Community Cinema can grow into a lasting part of the neighbourhood - somewhere to discover brilliant films, meet other people and experience cinema together.

Read the full feature: Community cinema in Crystal Palace celebrating South London culture through film – Southwark News

And, most importantly, come and join us for our first screening of All of Us Strangers at Upper Norwood Library on Friday 9 October.