The team at Clevedon’s Curzon cinema are delighted to have been shortlisted by the Charity Film Awards for their short ‘Roof Appeal’ film made last year to highlight the plight of the 100-year old roof.
The film was created with help from Aardman, who gave the Curzon permission to use a clip from ‘The Wrong Trousers’, where Gromit has to leave home in a rainstorm. The clip was cleverly re-voiced by Living Spit’s Howard Coggins, to maintain the sense of pathos of the sou’wester clad dog, but brings a sense of humour to the critical situation of the Curzon’s roof.
The short has been shown before every screening, and the Curzon team of loyal volunteers have gamely been donning sou’westers to remind the outgoing audience of the Curzon’s ongoing plight. The response has been amazing: audiences have generously topped up the buckets each evening, with cash – not rain!
Finalists will now be selected from the shortlist by the judges who include some notable people within the charity sector and film industry.
The Charity Film Awards celebrate the success of film in fundraising, to increase exposure of charity films and to encourage donations for good causes. The awards demonstrate that in a modern world, film-making is the most powerful piece of equipment in the charity communication tool box, creating video that can inspire, incite to action, excite and change behaviour.
The Charity Film Awards is now an established annual event that attracts hundreds of entries from charities, hundreds of thousands of public views and votes, thousands of donations being made to charities that entered, huge PR coverage internationally and millions of reactions through social media. The winners will be announced at a red-carpet ceremony in London in the Spring.
Susannah Shaw, the Curzon’s CEO said:
“It goes without saying we are holding our breath and crossing fingers and toes! We’re up against 16 other organisations in this category – but we’ve had such great support from the community, all voting like crazy! We were also lucky to have such a professional team in Clevedon, putting this together, comedian Howard Coggins, film director Niall Johnson, sound engineer Ken Wheeler and VFX animator Gavin Digby – along with our crew and fundraiser Karen Edgington – it really was a team effort. And most of all, we have to thank Aardman for allowing us to use this perfect piece of animation!”
About Curzon Cinema & Arts
Curzon Cinema & Arts has been at the centre of life in Clevedon, North Somerset, since 1912. A charity, run with support from volunteers, it is one of the UK’s few traditional, independent cinemas showing mainstream and art house films. The Grade 2 listed cinema has tremendous heritage value, locally, nationally and internationally.