Absolute dynamite: Christoph Warrack on cinema for the homeless
Christoph Warrack is CEO of Open Cinema, an organisation that creates community cinemas and holds film screenings for homeless people
le cool: What is Open Cinema and how did it start?
Christoph Warrack: Open Cinema is a network of community cinemas for the homeless or disenfranchised, and we bring the best of film culture into places where it doesn’t ordinarily spend much time. People who are experiencing homelessness, who experience extreme exclusion and extreme difficulty might not have the means at their disposal to be part of a culture that enables them to find the types of films that most interest and inspire them. So we build community cinemas. There are six in London, nine venues in total and others in development. We work with frontline homelessness organisations to fundraise and install them. This includes a high-definition projector, surround sound, you know – proper kit, and we bring in people who make these films to talk about them. Our view is that culture is vital to people’s sense of participation and it’s necessary to develop their cultural literacy and their sense of self-confidence.
Who have you had in to talk about the films?
We had Tom Stoppard; Jonathan Pryce from Ronin; we’ve had a stunt team in; and Natascha McElhone from The Truman Show a couple of weeks ago. We had her talking about a short film that she had made and The Truman show. She was talking with a group of young people at a venue in Covent Garden who were incredibly hungry for careers in the media and ideas in the media but are currently supported by St Mungo’s.
What other projects is Open Cinema involved in?
Since 2009, we have also been making films, so film-making projects and participation made in accordance with the themes of the season, so they’re not about homelessness, it’s about making short films that can then help our clients get on to courses. Some of the films also get shown at film festivals. We had a screening at BAFTA, where three of our short films were shown on the social impact of cinema; and we had a film shown at the Edinburgh Film Festival. We are now seeing the future of Open Cinema as being a space for alternative education or unsupervised learning and that’s really exciting. We’re in the really early stages of that.
Have there been reactions to films that you remember specifically?
There’re lots of cases of that I remember. One Christmas, after a season of contemporary thrillers, I think, we showed The Blues Brothers and it was just absolute dynamite. It was one of those screenings you will never forget for the rest of your life. It was a riot; people were roaring with laughter, they were standing up, they were talking back at the screen and it was just an absolute joy.
Another time we did a season of music films and we showed a documentary about world music called One Giant Leap. It’s a documentary about two musicians going around the world talking to other musicians. Someone came up to me at the end, one of the regular clients there and someone with clear mental health disabilities, and said, “That’s the most meaningful thing I’ve ever seen in the cinema,” which was so striking. To really connect with someone in that way – where they’ve been thinking about music and the meaning of life, which is what this film turns out to be about – was incredible.
Interview Hossein Ghonouie
Photo Tom Medwell
in this week’s le cool
