Cinema ahoy! Floating cinema to stop at Newbury

Floating arts venue will travel through West Berkshire this month

THE Floating Cinema will be mooring up at Newbury later this year.

The mobile arts venue will stop in the town as it loops the locks from Brentford to Bristol and back again.

The cinema will bring a free programme of open air and onboard screenings, performances, talks and events to communities along the Kennet & Avon Canal through West Berkshire.

The Floating Cinema will stop at Newbury Lock on its outward journey on Friday, June 19, offering a programme of matinee on-board film screenings and artist talks in the evening.

On the return journey it will stop again, mooring at Victoria Park during the Newbury Waterways Festival on July 25-26, offering drop-in screenings of a new work by Floating Cinema artist-in-residence Yann Seznec, who will create a floating library of forgotten sounds with communities along the route of the outward journey.

It will also premiere Somewhere’s new film – an odyssey of the Kennet and Avon Canal’s industrial past, subsequent decline and present day renaissance.

The events, both on-board and on land, will explore the histories, myths and legends along the route, including alternative trade in Newbury.

It will also stop at Aldermaston on Wednesday, June 17 for a performance of.

Floating Cinema curator Laura Harford said: “We are delighted to be taking The Floating Cinema on its first national tour and to be working with a new network of supportive funders and partners.

“Our events programme promises to delight and surprise and we hope it will inspire visitors to champion their local waterway as a place for culture as well as recreation and leisure.”

All events are free but should be booked in advance.

Bookings for events up to July 5 between Brentford Lock and Bath are now available from the Floating Cinema website www.floatingcinema.info.