24 October 2022 / Annie Waite

A feast of vintage film projectors

Special 20th anniversary event screening from original film reels on 9.5mm projectors.

Earlier this month we held a special event to say thanks to our amazing official Friends of the Electric Palace cinema whose donations helped see us through this difficult past year. We also celebrated our esteemed group of hardworking volunteers, in this our 20th anniversary month.

9.5mm projector in cinemaWe spent a hugely entertaining and enlightening morning in the company of Carl Potter, a film enthusiast and restorer, and collector of 9.5mm projectors. Carl presented a selection of his beautiful projectors and treated us to a screening of three short films from their original film reels, shooting their beams of light across the space onto the screen.

Carl Potter's aim is to collect - and restore to working order - as many different makes and models of these beautiful projectors in this often-overlooked 9.5mm format. One of the machines was designed as far back as 1922!

Film projectors on table

Cinema co-director Rebecca E Marshall also shared clips from filmmakers that have influenced her over the years, including Agnes Varda and Derek Jarman.

Group of volunteers looking at carl potter projecting a film

Photo credits: Ben Newell

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