21/02/2003

The Picturehouse, the first independent cinema to open in Liverpool’s city centre in over a decade, will open its doors for business tonight, 21 February, with sneak previews and special presentations of three films in the presence of their directors: Alex Cox’s Revengers Tragedy, Peter Mullan’s The Magdalene Sisters [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Melvin van Peebles’ Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song.
The £10m (Euros15m) Picturehouse is situated in the Foundation for Film, Arts and Creative Technology (FACT), an arts complex in a former chapel that comprises three cinemas, a ‘micro-cinema’, two galleries and a café.
The Picturehouse is part of the UK’s leading specialist exhibition circuit, City Screen, and it is hoped it will boost cinema attendance in Liverpool, a city with just 10 cinemas compared to 108 in nearby Manchester.
Picturehouse at FACT will offer Liverpudlians a range of art-house, foreign-language and quality mainstream films from around the world, as well as themed seasons, repertory screenings of classic masterpieces, late night cult movies and educational workshops. European films will be widely screened throughout the year starting this week with the programming (within the Special Season of ‘Breaking the new wave’) of a selection of six new European titles (including El Bola, The State I’m In Mostly Martha [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Preferisco il rumore del mare that would otherwise have never been shown in the UK without support from specialist exhibitors like Picturehouse at FACT.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)