What we’re about
Welcome to the Leeds Movie Fans Meetup Group! Here we gather to watch the best of cinema that Leeds has to offer, from mainstream releases, to critically-acclaimed features, to quirkier efforts in one-off showings. Afterwards we decamp to nearby cafes or bars to swap thoughts on what we've just seen, related work, and whatever else takes our fancy :-).
The aim is to have at least two movie meetups a month, and likely more than that during key parts of the cinema year e.g. in January and February when studios release Oscar contenders just before the Oscar ceremony, and in November when the superlative Leeds International Film Festival runs.
I and other organisers will try to give members as much notice as possible of screenings, though because cinemas usually confirm their screenings up to a week in advance, this can be tricky. Similarly, we will try to organise screenings well outside work hours, but again this may not always be possible as we are constrained by the screening time decisions of Leeds cinemas.
Streaming movies has become more popular in recent years, but as Daniel Craig wistfully remarked to Josh O Connor in a recent 'Actors on actors' piece, there really is nothing like the communal experience of watching a film with other people In a cinema. Long may that continue!
Upcoming events (3)
See all- Wind, Tide & OarHyde Park Picture House, Leeds, LS6 1JD
"When you've got an engine, then well you just think differently... when you haven't got one, it's all about understanding that this... is a much bigger thing than we are."
So goes the opening line from the trailer for Wind, Tide & Oar, a work billed as the first documentary film that explores the art of engineless sailing. Shot over three years on analogue film, it "offers a poetic and intimate perspective on a millennia-old craft, upended by the invention of mechanised power."
Arty descriptions aside, I do think there's something fascinating about engineless sailing, a force that shaped humanity's exploration, economic expansion and acquisition of knowledge for indeed several thousand years in various guises before the arrival of engines changed everything just over a hundred years ago. So I'm looking forward to this documentary.
Afterwards we'll head to the Brudenell to discuss!
- The Phoenician Scheme (placeholder event, details tbc)Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds, LS6 1JD
The Phoenician Scheme is Wes Anderson's latest. No longer the quirky auteur of films like Rushmore or the Royal Tenenbaums, but now attracting A list ensemble casts, Anderson's productions could possibly be accused of now lacking the originality his early work had in spades, even if they remain as stylish as ever. But the solid cast of this film, plus the relatively long wait for a theatrical release of an Anderson feature-length effort (his last was in 2023), make the Phoenician Scheme worth a look I think,
The Phoenician Scheme is released in UK cinemas on 23 May, so it seems a fair bet that it will be still be showing two weeks later. The precise time and venue of this film will be confirmed closer to the time.
