In 1993, a widescreen festival was held at Bradford. Two years later it was repeated and then it has been an annual event ever since, attracting cinema enthusiasts from all over the world. The lure of Cinerama, Todd A-O and IMAX is remarkable, especially as the first two are systems developed over fifty years ago when television was threatening the supremacy of Cinema.
The Pictureville Cinema in Bradford is unique- it is the only place in Europe capable of showing three projector Cinerama movies and one of only three worldwide. Being part of a museum, it does it regularly.
In a couple of weeks, the 2008 widescreen weekend will be on as part of the Bradford Film Festival and there will be another onstage group photo, even higher numbers no doubt. The programme is here.
(I won’t be going, it is a bit too specialised and intensive for my liking, I get a numb bum in a 90 minute flick.)
