Miracle on 34th Street - CANCELLED

Due to unforeseen circumstances this screening (16th December) has been cancelled, please accept our sincere apologies. Watch this space for news of our 2012 programme...

The Wildest Dream

George Mallory was obsessed with becoming the first person to conquer the untouched Mount Everest. He was last seen 800 feet below the summit in 1924, before the clouds rolled in and he disappeared into legend. His death stunned the world.



75 years later, climber Conrad Anker’s life became intertwined with Mallory’s after finding his frozen body with all his belongings intact. The only thing missing was a photograph of his wife, Ruth, which Mallory had promised to place on the summit. Haunted by Mallory’s story, Conrad Anker returns to Everest with British climbing prodigy Leo Houlding to unravel the mysteries surrounding his disappearance.

Friday 25th November at 7.30pm Nairn Community and Arts Centre.

Tickets £4.00 on the door/Bar from 7.00pm

Insanity runs in the family? It gallops!

Insanity runs in the family? It gallops! Cinema Nairn's latest Monday Matinee. "Arsenic & Old Lace"

Mortimer Brewster is a newspaperman and author known for his diatribes against marriage. We watch him being married at city hall in the opening scene. Now all that is required is a quick trip home to tell Mortimer's two maiden aunts. While trying to break the news, he finds out his aunts' hobby; killing lonely old men and burying them in the cellar. It gets worse...


Tickets only £2.00 plus teas and home-baking! (Arsenic not included, you'll be pleased to hear!) 


Nairn Community & Arts Centre, Monday 14th November at 2.00 pm

NAIRN’S CINEMA GOES DOUBLE SPOOKY

Cinema Nairn will get into the Halloween spirit by screening the first half of its double bill at 6.00pm, “The Ghost Goes West”. This cult comedy from the 1930s is about a Scottish castle shipped to America along with its resident kilted ghost. 

The Highlander who does the haunting is suave Robert Donat, best known for his role as Hannay in Hitchcock’s "The 39 Steps". The film is a 'U' certificate and bound to delight all ages.

The public vote for the second half of the double bill, resulted in "Psycho" winning with 40% of the votes cast.

Pyscho (1960, Certificate 15) is Hitchcock's masterpiece of the macabre, starring Anthony Perkins as the troubled Norman Bates, whose old dark house and adjoining motel are not the place to spend a quiet evening. As for the famous shower scene – it took seven days to shoot and seventy camera setups for just forty-five seconds of footage. 

The Cinema Nairn spooky double takes place on Friday 28th October at Nairn Community & Arts Centre on King Street in Nairn. Tickets for each film are £4.00 (£3.00 for under-18s and loyalty card holders). Refreshments and snacks will be available before each film.

Up, up and away...

A young Carl Fredrickson meets a young adventure spirited girl named Ellie. They both dream of going to a Lost Land in South America. 70 years later, Ellie has died. Carl remembers the promise he made to her. Then, when he inadvertently hits a construction worker, he is forced to go to a retirement home. But before they can take him, he and his house fly away. However he has a stowaway aboard. An 8 year old boy named Russell, who's trying to get an Assisting the Elderly badge. Together, they embark on an adventure, where they encounter talking dogs, an evil villain and a rare bird named Kevin. Winner of two Oscars, this charming animation has something for all ages.


Friday 21 October, 17:30 – 19:00 at Nairn Community & Arts Centre

CINEMA NAIRN COMES UP TRUMPED

Ordinarily you’d expect a documentary about a golf course to go down a treat in the well-heeled seaside resort of Nairn, famous for its two first class links courses.

But the special film screening on Monday 3rd October by community group Cinema Nairn is likely to provoke a heated debate among golfers and non-golfers alike. The film in question is the critically-acclaimed “You’ve Been Trumped”, which looks at American billionaire Donald Trump’s controversial project to create a luxury golf resort on sensitive sand dunes in Aberdeenshire.


The film had its UK premiere in June at the Sheffield Documentary Festival where it won The Green Award. In July it won the Special Jury Prize at the Michael Moore film festival in the US. And it is now scheduled to be screened at select city venues around the UK, as well as Winnepeg in Canada, Bermuda and... Nairn.


The List magazine describes it as “arguably the most important film about Scottish environmental, land and identity rights to surface this year or any year.”


When first proposed, Trump's planning application was decisively rejected by the local authority. But in an unprecedented move the Scottish Government overturned the decision and gave the project the go-ahead – arguing the case for economic development and inward investment. Bulldozers rolled into action, as did the cameras...


Earlier this year we had a great audience for the classic film Local Hero. You’ve Been Trumped basically tells the same story except this is fact not fiction and almost on our doorstep. We’re really lucky to secure the film for our community-run cinema and we’re sure it will be of great interest to many.”


The film has also been acclaimed for its musical score, provided by Jonsi, the frontman of best-selling Icelandic band Sigur Ros. Check out the trailer on our video bar above...


You’ve Been Trumped is being screened by Cinema Nairn on Monday 3rd October at 8.30pm in Nairn Community & Arts Centre on King Street in Nairn. Tickets are priced at £4.00 (£3.00 for under-18s and loyalty card holders) and the 95-minute film is a Certificate 12.


Synopsis: In this David and Goliath story for the 21st century, a group of proud Scottish homeowners take on a celebrity tycoon.   At stake is one of Britain's very last stretches of wilderness.   


American billionaire Donald Trump has bought up hundreds of acres on the northeast coast of Scotland, best known to movie-lovers as the setting for the 1983 classic film Local Hero.  And like the American oil tycoon played by Burt Lancaster, he needs to buy out a few more locals to make the deal come true.  In a land swimming with golf courses, Trump is going to build two more – alongside a 450-room hotel and 1,500 luxury homes.  The trouble is, the land he has purchased occupies one of Europe’s most environmentally sensitive stretches of coast, described by one leading scientist as Scotland’s Amazon rain forest.  And the handful of local residents don't want it destroyed.  


After the Scottish Government overturns its own environmental laws to give Trump the green light, the stage is set for an extraordinary summer of discontent, as the bulldozers spring into action.  Water and power is cut off, land disputes erupt, and some residents have thousands of tonnes of earth piled up next to their homes.  Complaints go ignored by the police, who instead arrest the film's director, Anthony Baxter.   Local exasperation comes to a surreal head as the now  “Dr”  Trump scoops up an honorary doctorate from a local university, even as his tractors turn wild, untouched dunes into fairways.   


Told entirely without narration, You've Been Trumped captures the cultural chasm between the glamorous, jet-setting and media savvy Donald Trump and a deeply rooted Scottish community.  What begins as an often amusing clash of world views grows increasingly bitter and disturbing.  For the tycoon, the golf course is just another deal, with a possible billion dollar payoff.  For the residents, it represents the destruction of a globally unique landscape that has been the backdrop for their lives.   


Funny, inspiring and heartbreaking in turns, You’ve Been Trumped  is both an entertaining, can't-believe-it's-true tale and an environmental parable for our celebrity driven times.  A moving score features music from jónsi, the internationally acclaimed musician and frontman of Sigur Ros.  The film also offers a rare and revealing glimpse of the unfiltered Donald Trump, as he considers standing as a candidate for President of the United States.  

The Kids Are Alright (they are aren't they?)

At the urging of her 15 year-old brother Laser, the now 18 year-old Joni makes contact with their biological father, Paul, who as a teenager himself donated his sperm to a cryo-bank. Their parents, same sex couple Jules and Nic, aren't quite sure what to make of it when they learn what their kids have done. Jules likes him far more than Nic who begins to feel that he is taking their family away from her. It all becomes very complicated when Paul and Jules begin sleeping together and Paul starts to fall for her. A family dinner at Paul's house leads Nick to realize what is going on and when the kids overhear their argument, they're in on the secret as well leading to a crisis for everyone. 


Friday 30th September at 7.30pm Nairn Community and Arts Centre. Tickets £4.00 on the door/Bar from 7.00pm

Change to programmed films

Sadly due to the withdrawal of the screening licence* by the distributors of "West Side Story" we have been left with no alternative but to replace Friday's film with another. With the help of Laurence Sutcliffe we have chosen Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 "Romeo & Juliet" a well-respected, classic film from the same era, Laurence will still deliver his introduction regarding the influence of Shakespeare on film. Sincere apologies for the disappointment but the matter is beyond our control.

We have hit a similar issue with "The Kid Brother" as although a licence is possible, additional permission to screen has to be obtained from the Harold Lloyd Estate. In this instance we have opted to show Buster Keaton in "The General" which we trust will be a suitable replacement and that with Andy May's piano accompaniment you will enjoy a true silent movie experience. 

* The licence has been withdrawn as they are about to release a new version and thus we have been left in limbo, unable to screen the existing version and the new version has not yet been released. When we checked at the start of the year we found that a licence was available and proceeded to add it to our programme/publicity material.

Nairn Book & Arts Festival 2011

As part of the Nairn Book & Arts Festival 2011 we are screening two great movies: West Side Story (1961) Cert PG - The unforgettable and seminal original film of the musical West Side Story – Leonard Bernstein’s take on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, set in the streets of New York.


An introduction about the influence of Shakespeare on film will be given by Lawrence Sutcliffe.


The Kid Brother (1927) Cert U,  a classic Harold Lloyd silent movie (a western) which is great fun for all the family. Will Harold catch the thieves and win Mary’s heart? Being screened with live piano accompaniment from Andy May for an authentic feel of the era.

Tickets can be booked/bought in advance from Nairn Community & Arts Centre or online please see links below for full details.


West Side Story


The Kid Brother

Next Film "The Smallest Show On Earth" - Friday 29th July

(Bill) Travers and (Virginia) McKenna play Matt and Jean, a young couple (they were married in real life) with a longing to visit exotic places, such as Samarkand. One day, Matt inherits a cinema from his great-uncle. When they look over their new property, they first mistake the modern 'Grand' for it. They are soon disillusioned to learn that the movie theatre they actually own is the old decrepit Bijou (nicknamed the "flea pit"), which is located next to a railway bridge. Along with the theatre, come three long-time employees: Mrs. Fazackalee (Rutherford), the cashier and bookkeeper, Mr. Quill (Sellers), the projectionist, and Old Tom (Miles) the janitor, doorkeeper and usher.

Robin (Phillips), their solicitor, informs them that the Grand's owner, Mr. Hardcastle (De Wolff), had offered to buy the Bijou from Matt's great-uncle for five thousand pounds in order to construct a car park for his nearby cinema. When they see their competitor however, he only offers them five hundred, thinking they have no choice but to accept.

Instead, on Robin's advice, they pretend to want to reopen the Bijou in order to force Hardcastle to raise his offer. At first, they seem to be succeeding, but then Old Tom inadvertently lets slip their overheard plan and Hardcastle refuses to budge. They decide to carry on with their bluff and go through with the opening. After a few mishaps, the business flourishes, especially after Matt hires the curvaceous Marlene Hogg (Cunningham) to sell ice creams and other treats at the interval.

Hardcastle counters by slipping a bottle of whisky into the next shipment of film reels for Quill, who has a drinking problem. He eventually succumbs to the temptation (while parched actors crawl across a desert on the screen), leaving Matt to try unsuccessfully to substitute for him; they are forced to refund the customers' money. Matt and Jean are ready to give up (with Old Tom eavesdropping again) only to wake up the next morning to find that the Grand has burned down. Hardcastle is forced to pay ten thousand pounds for the Bijou in order to stay in business while his theatre is being rebuilt. As an added condition, he has to keep the three staff on as employees.

Just as Matt and Jean are leaving on the train, Old Tom tells Matt that "It were the only way, weren't it?" implying he committed arson. Alarmed, they decide to write him a letter asking him to clarify his remark, but instead send him a postcard... from Samarkand.

From Wikipedia

Review of "The Illusionist" our next screening

Follow this link to read a Review of "The Illusionist" a charming, funny animated tale about an unemployed French magician who sets off on a life enhancing journey around Scotland. A real treat for cinema lovers in Nairn. All ages welcome...

Review of "The Illusionist"

An Education - our film choice for 10th May

Offering a screening at 10.00am so that parents who might otherwise not get chance to see this film is perhaps a bit of a gamble, we'll see how it goes...

In the early 1960's, sixteen year old Jenny Mellor lives with her parents in the London suburb of Twickenham. On her father's wishes, everything that Jenny does is in the sole pursuit of being accepted into Oxford, as he wants her to have a better life than he. Jenny is bright, pretty, hard working but also naturally gifted. The only problems her father may perceive in her life is her issue with learning Latin, and her dating a boy named Graham, who is nice but socially awkward. Jenny's life changes after she meets David Goldman, a man over twice her age.

David goes out of his way to show Jenny and her family that his interest in her is not improper and that he wants solely to expose her to cultural activities which she enjoys. Jenny quickly gets accustomed to the life to which David and his constant companions, Danny and Helen, have shown her, and Jenny and David's relationship does move into becoming a romantic one...

Catch it on Tuesday 10th May at Nairn Community & Arts Centre. Film starts at 10.00am

Chinatown

JJ 'Jake' Gittes is a private detective who seems to specialize in matrimonial cases. He is hired by Evelyn Mulwray when she suspects her husband Hollis, builder of the city's water supply system, of having an affair. 


Gittes does what he does best and photographs him with a young girl but in the ensuing scandal, it seems he was hired by an impersonator and not the real Mrs. Mulwray. When Mr. Mulwray is found dead, Jake is plunged into a complex web of deceit involving murder, incest and municipal corruption all related to the city's water supply.


Friday 15th April at Nairn Community and Arts Centre
Film starts at 7.30pm Doors & Bar open from 7.00pm

Singing In The Rain - perhaps one of the most famous songs from a movie ever!

Singing In The Rain performed by Gene Kelly come along to Cinema Nairn, join the crowd to see and hear it in all it's Technicolor glory... You can't really say much more about a great classic such as this film - just brilliant!


Another classic song routine in this movie is Make 'Em Laugh Apologies but I could not embed this clip


Showing at the Nairn Community & Arts Centre on Monday 14th February at 2.00pm - all ages welcome, tickets on the door £2.00 - Teas and Homebaking too...

The Playhouse Cinema, Church Street, Nairn...

A short piece of footage showing what remained of The Playhouse in Church Street, captured a few days ago by Jason Rose.

First AGM & Quiz Night

Our first AGM was a great success. We had a good turnout and were able to report we are financially sound a year into our endeavour thanks to the film fans of Nairn (and further afield!) and generous support from the Rotary and Nairn Discretionary Fund. The public support and donations of funding ensure we can show a wide range of films and keep ticket prices low. We also made a point of thanking Sam Morrison and the staff of Nairn Community And Arts Centre for their help.

The AGM was followed by a Film Quiz and the photo above showa the winning team, three of whom had travelled all the way from Inverness to take part. Pictured with them is Seamus McArdle, Cinema Nairn volunteer Box Office Manager and Treasurer, and, er, Charlie Chaplin.

Calendar Updated

Hi I've just updated the Google Calendar on the blog with dates/times all forthcoming films apart from those due to be screened as part of the Book & Arts Festival as the timings have yet to be determined for those particular films.