News

A New Chapter Begins

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At last a new chapter in the life of the Hyde Park Picture House begins!

The Friends are so pleased to see the huge positive response to the reopening. We love the way the character of our historic cinema has been preserved while offering us, as audiences, much better access (ramp, toilets, lift), a warm welcome, a new level of comfort, and a second screen (opening very soon). Well worth the wait. We look forward to seeing you there. 

The Friends continues to have a vital part to play in celebrating this heritage and promoting the work of the cinema. Our organisation is independent of the Hyde Park Picture House but we work very closely with their staff team.

We updated our membership arrangements this year. If you have not already (re)joined the Friends, please do so. Our annual membership fee is on a “pay what you decide” basis and you can find out How To Join here on our website.

You will be able to meet some of the Friends Committee at the Yorkshire Day screening of Brassed Off on Sunday 30th July at 1.30pm (we will be there from 1pm). There’s also going to be a Q&A with director Mark Herman, tickets are selling fast so book yours now if you haven’t already.

Return To Dust – Wednesday 12th April

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Whilst we eagerly await the reopening of the Picture House, we have arranged a joint presentation with Films at Heart of the Golden Bear nominated ‘Return to Dust‘ on Wednesday April 12th.

Films At Heart presents Return To Dust
Doors 7pm, film 7.30pm
HEART Centre, Bennett Road, LS6 3HN

2022’s Return to Dust is a Chinese drama in which Ma and Cao have been forced into an arranged marriage by their families. They do their best to build a home whilst facing many great challenges together. The unlikely couple form a bond to create an unexpected love story. 

This screening forms part of the regular Films at Heart programme, all tickets are £6/£5 and available via the HEART reception and online. Of course very nice refreshments are available too. And we’ll be there for a friendly chat.

“Return to Dust is many things — a vivid portrait of China’s hardscrabble rural north- west, an unexpected victim of state censorship — but it is first and last a love story. ”

Danny Leigh- Financial Times

“It’s a gorgeous, quietly affecting film that finds an unassuming beauty in this simple life in rural China, but which doesn’t shy away from the extreme hardships faced by the very poorest.”

Wendy Ide – Observer
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De Cierta Manera – Tuesday 21st February 8pm

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We’ve teamed up with the Picture House to present a screening of De Cierta Manera at the City Varieties on Tuesday 21st February at 8pm.

A fascinating docu-romance-drama and critical ethnographic study of a new couple, Yolanda and Mario. The filmmaker assesses the complexities of intersectional, marginalised lives in 1970s Cuba through a factual narrative that contextualises the relationship, the community, and the tensions of life in a new socialist society.

This was the first Cuban feature film directed by a woman and the last directed by Sara Gómez (1942-1974), who died suddenly while De Cierta Manera was being edited. The film was completed with the technical supervision of Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Julio García Espinosa, who also co-wrote the screenplay.

This screening includes a special live introduction from Lisa Harewood

Lisa is a digital storyteller from Barbados and co-founder of The Twelve30 Collective, a curating partnership that works with cinemas, festivals, universities and community groups to screen Caribbean films for UK audiences. Lisa has written, produced and directed films, virtual and augmented reality works, and is currently developing a multiplatform documentary project about the experiences of Caribbean families separated due to migration.

Members of the Friends committee will be at the screening to answer any queries about membership or other aspects of the Friends and we hope to see some of you there.

Job Opportunities At The Picture House

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At our Annual General Meeting a few weeks ago, Wendy mentioned that as well as all the building work they would soon be starting to recruit for new roles to facilitate the reopening and ongoing operation of the Picture House. There are now five roles being advertised:

  • Deputy Operations Manager
  • Deputy Projection and Facilities Manager
  • Projectionists
  • Cinema Venue Coordinators
  • Cinema Services Coordinators

You can find out more details about these roles and how to apply on the Hyde Park Picture House Opportunities page on their website.

They will also be running some drop-in sessions where the cinema team will be available to meet in-person and answer any questions you have about the roles or the recruitment process. These will be at the Cardigan Community Centre (145-149 Cardigan Rd, Burley, Leeds LS6 1LJ) on:

  • Thursday 20th October (11am – 2pm)
  • Friday 21st October (11am – 2pm)

Celebrate Yorkshire Day with Billy Liar

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Wednesday 3rd August 6pm Leeds University Union

To celebrate Yorkshire Day this year there is a screening of Billy Liar (1963) at Leeds University Union on Wednesday 3rd August at 6pm.

Before the film there will be a brief update on the upcoming changes to the Friends Membership scheme and how that fits in with the development, changes and reopening of the Picture House in the autumn.

The Friends will be moving to an annual “Pay What You Decide” membership model and focussing more on our charitable aims. Soon, The Hyde Park Picture House will be introducing their own new membership scheme which will include discounted tickets and other benefits.

We’ve made these changes because membership schemes are an important way for cinemas like the Picture House to raise income and grow audiences. The primary motivation for the Friends has always been different, focussing on our charitable objects to support and celebrate the cinema. At this point clearly separating the two so both could thrive felt like a great opportunity.

We’ve put together a page of Frequently Asked Questions on our website which explains things in more detail but if you have any other questions please get in touch. 

Back to Billy Liar in which Tom Courtenay plays an irresponsible funeral director’s clerk, who fiddles the petty cash, is at war with his parents, and has become involved with two young women who share the same engagement ring. An incorrigible liar and day dreamer by nature, whenever possible, Billy retreats into a fantasy world where he is the hero: a dictator of an imagined land of Ruritania or a famous novelist. Anything to avoid have to make a decision, grow up, get out.

Filmed on location in Bradford and Leeds, Billy Liar is outlier to the brand of kitchen-sink realism then current in 60s Britain. Director John Schlesinger, with screenwriters Keith Waterhouse (who wrote the 1959 novel the film is based on) and Willis Hall, craft a wonderfully cast and irreverent film that sits somewhere between reverie and reality, cleverly mirroring the modernisation of British society at the time.

Thank you to Ian Sanderson

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With regret the Committee has accepted the resignation of Ian Sanderson, first as Secretary and then as a Committee Member and Trustee. Ian has had health problems and a long programme of treatment. This seems to be coming to a conclusion and we hope Ian will continue healthy and we shall see him at Picture House events and at the Picture House itself when it reopens.

Since the sad death of Peter Chandley Ian has been the longest serving member of the Committee of the Friends. He joined in 1996 when the Friends was relaunched with a Constitution and an elected Committee. Ian was soon elected Chairman and he continued in that post until 2008 when Peter became Chairman and Ian became Secretary.

1996 was the year when the Friends were campaigning for the support of the Council for the Picture House to be extended; a campaign that led to the incorporation of the Picture House in the Grand Theatre & Opera House Trust, [now Leeds Theatres Heritage Trust]. It is that support that has been crucial in the continuing survival of the Picture House up until the current development programme.

Ian was one of the active Committee members in the 1990s when the Friends had a regular Film Club at the Picture House. And he also chaired or supervised meetings and events organised by the Friends: for a time Committee Meetings were held in the basement of the Picture House: a setting suitable for a noir drama. The Annual General Meetings in the mid-1990s were held at the nearby Cardigan Centre. And there were social activities at local public houses; such as The Cardigan Arms. There was also the regular ‘Hyde & Seek’; the then version of a newsletter for the members of the Friends. In a late issue 1997 Ian was writing to Friends, then 200 members.


“Firstly, many thanks to all of you who took the time and trouble to return your completed questionnaires which have been read by the Friends and the cinema management.”

There were comments on the Newsletter; the Picture House programming: and technical issues. This was the point at which the Picture House was able to install Dolby Stereo sound system and [happily] just about all the screenings were in 35mm.

Since the turn of the century Annual General Meetings have been held at the Picture House. And Ian, first as Chairperson then as Secretary, had an important role in these. Along with the Committee Members and the Cinema Manager he organised the three annual Friends’ screening events at the Picture House. And, among other responsibilities, he had to maintain the relations with the Charity Commission.

So Ian has made an important and long-time commitment to the Friends and to the Hyde Park Picture House. The Committee wishes to record on behalf of the membership our appreciation of all his work.

Movie Nights At City Varieties

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“Please watch our movie on the largest screen possible and one day very, very soon, take everyone you know into a theater, shoulder to shoulder in that dark space and watch every film that’s represented here tonight.

Frances McDormand accepting the Best Picture Academy Award for Nomadland

With cinemas reopening the On The Road screenings are starting again with Movie Nights At City Varieties Music Hall. This week it’s Nomadland and Ammonite with Sound Of Metal, Minari and Wolfwalkers all coming up. These are all films that will really benefit from seeing (and hearing) on a big screen.

On Wednesday 19th there is also a “one night only” chance to see Pedro Almodóvar’s new 30 minute film The Human Voice starring Tilda Swinton and made last year under lockdown conditions. The screening will be followed by a recorded Q&A with Mark Kermode talking to Almodóvar and Swinton.

For ticket and safety information please see the Hyde Park Picture House website

The Future Of The Friends – Open Meeting Monday 29th March

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On Monday 29th March at 7pm we will be holding an open meeting online to explore and take forward ideas and proposals for developing the work of the Friends. This meeting is open to current members, past members and others in any way connected
to, or interested in, the Cinema and its contribution to community life.

There will be a brief introduction on progress so far including the main areas of work that we have identified: Social Activities, Online Activities, Outreach, Heritage and Study Groups.

There will be opportunity to discuss these areas and any other ideas that come up. We’ll also be inviting people to get more involved if they think they can help in a particular area.

For more details please see our Open Meetings page. If you are interested in attending please complete the RSVP form so we can send you the Zoom meeting details.

Special General Meeting – 1st March 7pm

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The Friends of the Hyde Park Picture House online Annual General Meeting on February 1st 2021 was attended by 42 people. It was good to have so much interest. However this number fell below the quorum we needed to make formal decisions. We went through all agenda items and recorded your views in the draft minutes (which will be available soon).

We have arranged an online Special General Meeting on Monday March 1st at 7pm to take the formal decisions needed, guided by the AGM discussions. This time the quorum will just be the number of people attending rather than a set figure.

This shorter than usual Special General Meeting will be followed by discussion of ways ahead for the Friends over the next few years and beyond. We look forward to your contributions on ideas for future activities, working groups and Committee membership, the relationship of the Friends to the Picture House, and what membership of the Friends means. If you would like to raise anything ahead of the meeting please contact us.

Instructions on how to join the meeting will be sent to members via email nearer the time.

Annual General Meeting

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When we postponed our AGM (which was originally planned for May) we hoped that we would still be able to hold it later in the year. Unfortunately that has not been possible and with no clear sign of when we would be able to hold a meeting, we have decided it move it online.

Our ‘2020’ AGM will now take place on Monday 1st February 2020 at 7pm as a Zoom meeting. We will provide further details in the new year but you can find some of the documents that will be presented on our AGM page now.