Showcase for young talent reignites row
Dec 1 2008 by Ben Guy, The Journal
FILMS returned to a landmark cinema last night after years of closure – and reignited controversy over the future fate of the building.
The films were projected on to the exterior of the former Odeon cinema in Pilgrim Street, Newcastle.
The three short films were produced by the Northern Stars young filmmaker’s academy at the Tyneside Cinema as Newcastle and Gateshead’s contribution to the national Portrait of a Nation project.
The two-year project, backed by the Heritage Lottery Fund, has seen hundreds of young people from 17 cities across the UK look at what culture and identity means to them.
The three films were premiered at the Tyneside Cinema last night and were also projected on to the Odeon building opposite for passers-by to enjoy.
But the event also led to campaigners renewing their call to save the former Odeon, which is included in massive redevelopment plans for 17 hectares in the East Pilgrim Street area.
The building opened as the Paramount cinema in 1931 – one of seven American-style super-cinemas built in UK cities. It set new standards in opulence, and was listed on the recommendation of English Heritage.
But after an appeal by the then-developers for the East Pilgrim Street area, the former Odeon was taken off the list amid a storm of protest.
Campaigners, including the Northumberland and Newcastle Society (NNS) , objected but a decision on whether the building will be listed again or not has still not been made by the Department of Culture after three years of waiting.
John Matthews, former chairman of the Tyneside committee of the NNS, said the former Odeon was also omitted from city council documents on the regeneration plans.
He said: “The cinema is now even more important than it was when all this began. As other 1930s super-cinemas have closed, Newcastle’s Odeon is now of European importance.
“We are devastated that the building has been missed out completely from city council reports on the East Pilgrim Street proposals.
“It is as if it is a building of no significance yet it is one of the few cinema buildings of its type left in Europe and is becoming more and more unique.”
The NNS has recently received a letter from English Heritage which speaks of frustration over the issue.
In the letter, English Heritage says it has prepared formal advice on the former Odeon building four times since 1999.
Mr Matthews said the building, which seats 2,000, could be used as a conference centre, while preserving an important part of Newcastle’s social, cultural and recent historic past.
He added: “It would be an act of criminal vandalism to allow the former Odeon building to be demolished.”
The three short films unveiled last night were:
The Flickr Wall, a dark alleyway in the heart of Newcastle which is covered by thousands of chalk drawings and graffiti
The Shoe Tree in Newcastle’s Armstrong Park which is adorned with hundreds of shoes
Home a film which explores what home means to Tynesiders.
