Update - October 2022

We are planning to reopen the Film Theatre as soon as this is agreed with the University.

As you know, the Film Theatre was closed in 2020 due to coronavirus and it has been closed ever since due to circumstances outside our control.

While we had to make our part-time staff redundant in 2020, our core team of voluntary staff – director, programmer, treasurer, company secretary, technical engineer - have remained in place and the governors and trustees have met regularly throughout. 

We will continue to depend on the commitment of our projectionists, Front of House volunteers and our valued audiences, without whom we would not function, and will be relying on them to support the Film Theatre as they have so loyally in the past.  

The Film Theatre organisation continues to be viable and as soon as we have the go ahead from the University we will be installing new projection equipment.

We hope that we can continue to rely on your support and will inform you once the arrangements for reopening have been finalised.

Update - July 2022

Unfortunately, we are still not in a position to announce a confirmed reopening date for the Film Theatre. 

We have been working towards finalising a formal agreement with Staffordshire University and until this is in place we simply cannot reopen. We are frustrated that this is taking much longer than anticipated and are continuing to hope that the University will get this unsatisfactory situation resolved as soon as possible.

We have a plan for reopening and as soon as we have the agreement in place, we can put that plan in to action.

We really appreciate everyone’s patience and are looking forward to being able to commence screening films very soon.

Death of Gerald Mee, former chair of Film Theatre governors

We were very sorry to hear of the death of Gerald Mee on 16th March at the age of 96.

Gerald was a member of the Board of Governors of the Film Theatre from its inception in 1974 and Chair of the Governors from 1979-2015.

He remained a member of the Governors after this and contributed to Zoom meetings during lockdown.  He always maintained a cool head and sharp perception beneath a disarming and low key approach.  He joined the governors as a representative of Stoke Cine and Video Society and was also Vice President of the Film and Video Institute and former President of the International Association of Amateur Film Festivals. 

He was a caring man and his actions improved the lives of many people.

You can read more about Gerald's long and interesting life here.