I sat down with Claire Vaughan who is the Cinema Programme Manager at Chapter Arts Centre. Chapter Arts Centre very kindly allowed the Spotlight Team watch a free screening of Priscilla before this interview. Can you explain your role at Chapter Arts Centre? 'I am the Cinema Programme Manager and that means I essentially run the cinema, choose the films, write the copy, and run the events.
Basically, anything to do with the cinema is me! I do everything apart from project as we have a very experienced projection team who have worked with every type of film and are truly the backbone of our cinema.’ What factors do you consider when selecting films for a cinema programme? 'There is something called a ‘Filmslate’, where distributors and producers will decide where to place their film in the calendar. For example, Dune comes out on the 1st of March so other directors will not choose their film to be released on the same day.
My process involves looking at what comes out on the ‘slate’ and placing it into a grid that schedules them. We focus on quality here; I try to watch as much as I can through industry networks before I book them. Sometimes, we decide on other factors such as the director, or the actors within them however, if people send me a film and I really like it, that will also get shown.
These are the joys of being an independent cinema: that all the films are not the same and heavily commercialised.' How have you differentiated Chapter from your average cinema experience? 'Chapter is the only cinema still screening 35mm in all of Wales. We do VHS, 16mm, 8mm – all sorts of weird formats to display movies here at Chapter. But the main difference between Chapter and commercial cinema is that there is a person, it is so personal what we do here.
We try to demystify the industry and bring the magic into cinema – it doesn’t make it any less magic just because you know how it’s made.’ How do you support young and local talent at Chapter? 'We run Chapter MovieMaker which is a short film showcase that happens on the first Monday of every month and has been going on for decades. It is currently run by our host Tom Betts. It is a way of, wherever you are in the industry, showcasing your film or whatever you’ve been working on to audiences for feedback or pleasure.
It is also BAFTA–qualifying screening so we have had people win BAFTA awards from showcasing at MovieMaker in the past. The amazing thing about MovieMaker is getting local talent onscreen and hopefully becoming a