“I feel there’s a global shift towards doing things differently, “ says Secret Cinema creator Fabian Riggall. “We’ve launched in London which is an international city, and I think our audiences are mixed and are into different things. It’s about creating these real experiences that’s mixing different art forms together where people aren’t sure if it’s a concert, a cinema screening, a theatre, a restaurant or a gallery.”

Riggall’s latest project finally opened on 31st July following an unexplained one-week delay and an social media outcry from fans who’d flown in from as far as Cambodia to see the debut. But now that it’s arrived, all might soon be forgiven as the ambitious interpretation has gotten off to a strong start.

Photo: Will Cooper

The film’s version of the fictitious Hill Valley, California has been recreated and begins with a walk-through of an actual sheep and chicken farm before the rest of the world is unveiled. The grounds boasts of bungalow houses, retro billboards, a gas station, diners, shops, a town square, a small fun fair, a high school and of course, a replica of the clock tower that featured in the film and double-ups as the film screen. Impressively, no detail has been spared.

Actors playing geeks and jocks in 1950s outfits mingle among the similarly dressed crowds and deliver their dialogue with flawless and upbeat mid-West accents it’s easy to forget you’re in East London. The audience happily gets in on the act too, hitching rides in the vintage cars that whiz around grounds or pose for prom photos.

Photo: Al Overdrive

A highlight of the night is when things turn pantomime. A Marty McFly impersonator runs through the crowd and loud cheers go up for the film’s plucky protagonist while booing ensues for a convincing Biff Tannen and his crew who rip around the crowd and are just as intimidating in real life.

The experience starts to lose its lustre after a couple of hours of doing the rounds, especially when the reality of expensive memorabilia and painfully-long queues for food, the rides and toilets begin to kick in. The theatrical forays are a welcome distraction, like the sudden flashback performance to 1985, replete with dancers appearing in lycra and headbands and skipping around the compound. It’s odd, but it surprisingly works. It’s fun when the 80s gang latter take over a school bus and party with audience members to Van Halen’s Jump and Starship’s We Built This City. The night picks up further with a rock and roll performance and that iconic scene when McFly shows off his 80’s style guitar riffs on a purpose built stage before the film screening begins.

Photo: Will Overdrive

Where previous Secret Cinema productions might have been too obscure or raw to be fully enjoyable, Back to the Future offers plenty of reasons to love the original even more.  Check it out before it wraps up on August 31st. For more information, visit www.secretcinema.org/tickets

The post Somewhere you should go… Secret Cinema Presents Back To The Future appeared first on The Cultural Exposé.

To begin with, Back to the Future could  make a great double-bill with Oscar-nominated Flight, since both are directed by the award-winning director Robert Zemeckis. Furthermore, Flight marks the return of the visionary director to live-action films after eight years of experimentation with 3D motion capture techniques in films such as The Polar Express and Beowulf. So what a better way to celebrate this occasion than by watching his first truly great film?

Secondly, this pop-up screening will take place at the restaurant Paradise at Kensal Green where you can watch the film while enjoying some delicious food. Isn’t this a more appealing option than say eating a popcorn box while watching the realistic scenes of torture in Zero Dark Thirty?

But seriously, the fact that  the term ‘classic’ is justifiably applied to Back to the Future should be enough of a reason to go re-watch the film. Taking the premise of time-travelling to thrilling, entertaining as well as intriguing places and offering us two characters that have secured their place in the pop pantheon (Michael J. Fox’s Marty McFly and Christopher Lloyd’s Dr Emmett Brown) it is one of those films that you will always get back to and lingers in your memory much longer than each year’s Oscar favourite. (Words: Apostolos Kostoulas)

The pop-up screening of Back to the Future will take place on Sunday 17 February at 2:30 pm as part of the Paradise by way of the Silver Screen series co- produced by Paradise and Lexi Cinema. For more information go to: www.thelexicinema.co.uk

The post Somewhere you should go… Pop –Up Screening at the Paradise: Back to the Future appeared first on The Cultural Exposé.