The smell of popcorn. The feeling when the lights go down. The sense that you’ve been transported somewhere else for the past few hours when the credits roll… We’re all missing the big screen experience right now. Going without it has made us even more appreciative of how special it really is. If you’re with us on that, then you’ll probably agree with the likes of Christopher Nolan and Ridley Scott that it’s worth doing all we can to protect it.
They, along with many other actors and directors, are calling for your help to make sure cinemas can survive the pandemic and reopen once restrictions are lifted. The Keep the Magic Alive initiative hopes to persuade the government to provide support for larger cinema operators to help weather the storm of lockdowns.
They, along with many other actors and directors, are calling for your help to make sure cinemas can survive the pandemic and reopen once restrictions are lifted. The Keep the Magic Alive initiative hopes to persuade the government to provide support for larger cinema operators to help weather the storm of lockdowns.
What can I do?
It only takes 30 seconds to help by contacting your MP. Just head to this site, pop in your postcode to find your local MP and send a message (they’ve provided one for you so the whole process will only take a few clicks.)
What your favourite filmmakers have said:
If anything, this long lockdown at home watching movies on my sofa with all my home comforts nearby has ironically underlined what my favourite thing about cinema is - actually going to it. When I???m part of a crowd that is moved, thrilled or even helpless with laughter at what???s playing on that big screen, there???s nothing better. I miss it and I???m not alone. There is a whole nation of film-goers out there that miss the communal experience. It would be crime to not have these places of cinematic worship open on the other side of this. We need our biggest screens, because we want those stories to be 2 storeys high.
- Edgar Wright
The cinema: for me there???s never been anything like sitting in a darkening auditorium and sharing the electric anticipation that???s all around me.
Ice cream in hand as the light lowered, the curtain swished open to take me into a new world, to offer me a whole new experience.
Let???s not lose the excitement of all that, and the possibility of sharing our work with live audiences.
- Ridley Scott
Want to hear more?
Listen to a special message from Stephen Fry:
Edgar Wright is one of the filmmakers urging the government to help keep the magic of cinema alive Who is supporting?
Here’s the full list of actors and directors who have signed an open letter to Rishi Sunak asking for more funding to help save the UK cinema industry:Andrea Arnold OBE
Amma Asante MBE
Simon Beaufoy
Tim Bevan CBE
Danny Boyle
Graham Broadbent
Barbara Broccoli OBE
Iain Canning
Noel Clarke
Richard Curtis CBE
Stephen Daldry CBE
Gareth Edwards
Eric Fellner CBE
Stephen Frears
Stephen Fry
Sarah Gavron
Jane Goldman
Paul Greengrass
David Heyman
Armando Iannucci OBE
Asif Kapadia
Elizabeth Karlsen
Duncan Kenworthy OBE
Paul King
Jude Law
Philippa Lowthorpe
Andrew Macdonald
Kevin Macdonald
Steve McQueen CBE
Sam Mendes CBE
Peter Morgan CBE
Christopher Nolan
Nira Park
David Puttnam CBE
Lynne Ramsay
Guy Ritchie
Ridley Scott
Emma Thomas
Matthew Vaughn
Ben Wheatley
Michael G. Wilson OBE
Stephen Woolley
Edgar Wright
Joe Wright
David Yates
