Celebrating Community Through Cinema!
Welcome to the Forum Cinema, the friendliest cinema in Hexham! (That was a joke – there’s only one cinema in Hexham. But seriously, we think we may be the friendliest cinema in the country). Forum Cinema is the place to come and enjoy the shared experience of film on the big screen in The Tyne Valley.
We are an independent, single screen cinema. This means we have autonomy over what we put on our screen. We have a professional programmer who looks after all our cultural film needs and has taken time to get to know you; the audience, your likes, dislikes and thrills. We like to bring you films that not just entertain, but reflect the lives, heritage and communities of the people around us, and films that introduce us to new ideas, and ways of life in which we can notice similarities and celebrate differences.
Part of our regular programme is to bring to you Live National Theatre, Royal Ballet and Opera performances. These are the best seats in the house with great views of the stage and at a fraction of the price it would cost to see the show in the theatre. All this, and you don’t need to travel to London or Birmingham to catch these performances. If fine art is your thing, we bring you Exhibitions on Screen led by world renowned curators as you get up close and personal with very famous works of art.
We Reflect and Enhance Our Community
Emerging local film makers find meaningful opportunities to exhibit on our screen, community groups work with us to bring in specialist knowledge films often with enhanced activities such as Q&As and speakers, they raise awareness and sometimes they raise funds too. Each year we exhibit on behalf of the UK Green Festival, to bring people the most up to date knowledge of environmental issues. We show a wide variety of other climate change films pitched to suit all ages. The cinema itself does all it can to reduce its carbon footprint by selling local produce (don’t worry we stock all of your favourites too!), we use an up-to-date 4K digital projector that reduces energy consumption and we responsibly purchase energy.
Have you heard about The Foscars? We team up with several community groups and schools who work with adults with learning disabilities to create the best annual event in our cinema. We fundraised to buy camera and editing equipment which enables these folks to
make their own films to show on our screen. In a glorious showcase event, we exhibit all the films, Oscar style awards are given out and the groups we work with select their own feature film to show. It’s a blast!
Accessibility is key to our purpose-built cinema building. We have installed lifts throughout and have an accessible toilet and a gender-neutral toilet. We show subtitled films and have hearing technology available and audio-captioned films for people with visual impairments.
We show regular dementia-friendly and relaxed screenings for people who prefer an auditorium with low lighting, lower noise levels and acceptance that people may move around a little.
This is not just a cinema, it’s a community asset and if you want to work with us, just get in touch with clare@forumcinema.com
