An independent cinema in Lewes has been celebrated alongside 15 cinemas worldwide that have "navigated covid" and "remained a force in their communities".
Depot Lewes was named in Screen Daily alongside cinemas in Germany, Australia, the US and Singapore, to have faced challenges alongside the "entire exhibition sector" but managed to emerge on the other side in tact and thriving.
Data from Screendaily.com
According to writer Charles Gant, writing for the Screen Daily website, Depot embraces the idea of sustainability in everything it does, from the geothermal heating, solar panels, a ‘living roof’ and a garden space (there's no car park but there is a place to park bikes). It even has a "sustainability manager".
Operating as a charity, Gant writes that "community engagement is at the heart of the project" and Depot has an active volunteer scheme with up to 40 volunteers ushering customers or helping in the garden.
“They are great ambassadors for our cinema,” says Slijpen, who is the theatre’s director and programmer. She says that the customer base is generally older, but public areas "retain a youthful buzz, thanks to free wi-fi and water".
“They sit in a nice space with their laptops and headphones on,” says Slijpen.
“As soon as we opened our doors, Depot became the ‘Hub of Lewes’. One of the most regular remarks we receive is about how busy we are at any time of day.”
According to Gant, Depot came into being after Carmen Slijpen, who had been active in Lewes’s film society, connected with local businessman Robert Senior, who shared her vision that their East Sussex town deserved its own cinema, the last one having closed in the early 1970s. Initially, Depot was set to be part of a development including a hotel, and Slijpen was wary the cinema might be used as a carrot to win planning permission and later jettisoned — but the opposite occurred. The hotel development did not proceed, but with generous support from Senior, the £8m ($10.4m) Depot opened in May 2017.
Go to lewesdepot.org for more info.
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