Film / News
Cinema for a Pound comes to Bristol
The biggest challenge facing low budget independent filmmakers in the UK is getting their films in front of a cinema audience. Marcus Markou made history ten years ago by staging his own cinema release for his feature debut, Papadopoulos and Sons (starring Stephen Dillane). He used social media and guerrilla tactics such as cold calling every Greek Orthodox priest to announce the movie’s release in the Sunday service before the opening weekend. This proved so successful that Papadopoulos and Sons notched up the second highest screen average of any movie in its opening weekend. It was beaten only by Tom Cruise in Oblivion.
Now Markou is back with his next feature, The Wife And Her House Husband, and another innovative marketing scheme. As the name suggests, Cinema For a Pound gets you a seat to watch the film for just a quid. Says the director: “The struggle for independent films has never been more challenging post- covid. I’m launching ‘Cinema for a Pound’ to release The Wife and Her House Husband, which was made on a microbudget during the pandemic, but also to raise the profile of indie films at cinemas and how indie filmmakers can build their own audiences. There is a belief that indie films and microbudget films do not stand much of a chance at the cinema. I understand this. However, only indie filmmakers can challenge that assumption. I am already having conversations with other filmmakers who are looking to copy the model. It does rely on indie-friendly cinemas willing to take the risk on an idea like this and audiences passionate about independent film. But I am finding, as I did with Papadopoulos and Sons, that if you get the word out people do respond – especially during these cash-strapped times.”
Laura Bayston and Laurence Spellman in ‘The Wife and Her House Husband’
The Wife and Her House Husband is a drama about a long-married couple who are on the verge of divorce when a letter from their past draws them reluctantly back together. It won Best Feature at the recent British Urban Film Festival and was warmly reviewed by The Guardian (“…an interesting, worthwhile movie that genuinely gets under the skin of a long marriage”). Following a successful three-week run at the Prince Charles Cinema in London and a one-week run in Birmingham, it comes to Bristol’s Orpheus Cinema from April 15 as a double-bill with Markou’s viral hit short film Two Strangers Who Meet Five Times. Go here to bag your dirt-cheap tickets.
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