Anfield People's Cinema, founded by Anthony Scott and Josh Coates in January last year, uses film screenings to bring Liverpool's community together, offering an accessible and affordable alternative to traditional cinemas. The group hosts pay-what-you-can screenings, often accompanied by bowls of free Scouse, and has grown to include 20 volunteers.
Using cinema as a conversation starter
Anthony Scott told the ECHO: "Anfield People's Cinema has always been about using cinema as a conversation starter. It's giving people permission to just enjoy a different way of doing something. We aimed for it to be this communal experience, you see people who have never met each other before coming to the screenings and leaving as friends and giving each other lifts to and from the screenings. There's become a real community around it."
Hosting the first screening at Breck Road Library, now closed, was a memorable experience. Scott said: "Hosting it in the Breck Road Library [now closed] was a cracker because we didn't really anticipate many people turning up, and then we ended up showing Of Time and the City, which is an old Terence Davies film. And, it was just a bunch of people talking about growing up in the city, what that meant at different times, and it became this real living history, giving people the opportunity to chat."
Affordable access to film
Scott emphasised the socio-economic context of the pay-what-you-can model. He said: "The whole model that we're based upon is pay-what-you-can, which is very much with a socio-economic context in mind. If you've got a family of four, going to the cinema is going to cost you upwards of £50 by the time you get sweets and tickets. That's probably not even accounting for the transport to get into town. It is an expensive luxury, which is sad, it didn't use to be that way."
He added: "As these places become more expensive and become more of a commodity, people lose this space where they have the chance to meet with each other. That's why we emphasise that communal element of watching a film together is quite important, because obviously there's also the rise of streaming platforms and stuff like that, which is all great, and it's great to be able to access a whole wealth of films from your own home, but it doesn't give you that opportunity to talk to someone, to disagree with someone, to learn something about something new. That's what we're trying to achieve with the Anfield People's Cinema."
Free food and community support
With the cost barrier in mind, the organisation also serves food. Scott said: "I think we just want to be a place where you can come and kill two birds with one stone. We usually either cook the food ourselves with the help of my mum who helps out and cooks a big bowl of Scouse, which is lovely, or we source it from local caterers, because we want to give back to our local economy."
Reflecting on a memorable moment, Scott recalled a screening featuring short films from Senegal and Iran, chosen with volunteers from Asylum Link. He said: "It was just so nice seeing people coming together, choosing the films, advocating for themselves through the films."
Upcoming festival
Anfield People's Cinema will host a four-day festival of films from September 24 to 27 across a number of Liverpool venues. Films to be shown include Letter to Brezhnev, Back to the Future, The Long Day Closes, Kes, Wolfwalkers and the Senegalese film Black Girl.
