SCALA!!! OR, THE INCREDIBLY STRANGE RISE AND FALL OF THE WORLD'S WILDEST CINEMA AND HOW IT INFLUENCED A MIXED-UP GENERATION OF WEIRDOS AND MISFITS

UK | 2023 | COLOR | DCP | 96’ | ENGLISH
DIRECTORS: Jane Gilles, Ali Catterall
SCREENWRITERS: Jane Gilles, Ali Catterall
DoP: Sarah Appleton
MUSIC: Barry Adamson
EDITORS: Andy Starke, Edward Mills

Cinema is its worlds, its conclusions and its questions. It is also our feelings while watching, the inner spaces we realize and rush to fill. But cinema is also a community, an entire world. And nothing represents that better than the movie theater. This mysterious place where strangers meet before the unknown and two hours later some sort of sharing happens. In the legendary ‘Scala’ of London everyone had a place, everyone was visible, loved and learned about cinema. On its hard seats, the maze-like spaces (and their cats) and the frantic programs, the world of cinema cheered. And the documentary about the movie theater that inspires our tribute this year is the perfect introduction to the palace of cinema. I.D.

ALI CATTERAL
British writer, director and critic. His work has been published in The Guardian, Time Out, GQ and Film4, among others. This documentary is his debut film. He has also edited the publication ‘Scala Cinema 1978-1993’, authored by his co-creator, Jane Gilles.

JANE GILLES
British programmer in Scala, writer and head of content at the British Film Institute from 2008 to 2016. She co-wrote the awarded ‘Scala Cinema 1978-1993’, main source for this documentary.

FILMOGRAPHY (SHARED)
2023 Scala!!! Or, the Incredibly Strange Rise and Fall of the World's Wildest Cinema and How It Influenced a Mixed-up Generation of Weirdos and Misfits