Indie cinema thrives in W6
Tuesday October 20, 2009
The art of programming a cinema as eclectic as Riverside Studios can be a bit of a balancing act, according to Shira MacLeod.
The cinema director at the Hammersmith arts venue wears many hats as film buff, supreme negotiator, critic and even pseudomarketer in selecting Riverside's ever-changing line-up of films.
Shira, 40, who has been programming the one-screen cinema for the past six years, said its nightly double bills had proved a runaway success among audiences.
"People really love the double bill and they don't want it to disappear," she said. "I did a survey about two years ago and there was a huge resounding 'yes', that people do sit through both films.
"A few other cinemas like the Curzon Soho do double bills on Sunday afternoons but we are the only cinema that does them every evening."
Shira said she twinned films according to a common actor, director, theme, city or country, constantly liaising with distributors and other UK cinemas to ensure availability of film prints.
"I'm looking at the theme of unrequited love at the moment," she said. "I'm working on January and February's programme, so it's pretty far in advance. I have to go and actually see the films and then negotiate money.
"It's a long process and we're showing two films a night, changing every single day. It's a big job."
Shira regularly attends exhibitors' screenings, presented by film distributors before each film is released, to try to secure prints to show at Riverside.
"I'm a small fish in the scheme of things and usually I cannot get a film until about two months after it is released, but a lot of people will wait until they can see the film here with another film," she said.
"When film distributors release a film it's normally all about the first weekend, but wise distributors realise that a film like Fish Tank does not work in cinemas like Vue because it's an art-house film."
Shira also collaborates with a number of specialist programmers to bring a range of international film festivals to Riverside every year.
The venue's Polish and Italian festivals, which run each March and April respectively, are two of the biggest events on the calendar.
"The Italian Film Festival makes the most money at Riverside each year and I go to the Venice Film Festival to select films," she said. "And I regularly go to Poland for the same reason."
Shira, originally from Argyll, Scotland, moved to London 23 years ago and has worked in various roles at Riverside for the past 20 years.
As cinema director she works with a team of four projectionists and a part-time assistant but admitted that as a woman she was something of a rarity in film programming circles.
"There are not many women doing this and the main salespeople you are dealing with in companies like Paramount, Fox and Disney are all men," she said. "And a lot of them are hustlers."
Shira said the task of film programming was also a diplomatic balancing act and it could prove difficult to keep everybody happy.
"Everyone has an opinion on what you're doing and a lot of it is to do with making money," she said. "It's about having a critical eye, being aware of who your audience is, being able to get on with everyone in the business and understanding how each film company works."
Shira said many of Riverside's existing audience were film buffs from all over London but she was keen to tempt in more of the Hammersmith & Fulham crowd.
"I would like to attract more local people to come here," she said. "It's an easy, cheap night out and you can come here by yourself and see two films, have a drink in the cinema and it's a very relaxing evening."
Call the box office on 020 8237 1111, see the website below or call in to the venue in Crisp Road.
www.riversidestudios.co.uk (opens new window).
