How a teenager created one of the UK’s last celluloid-only cinemas

‘I had a big interest in film, and there weren’t any cinemas in the area running 35mm film,’ said Cornick, who is now 20 and working in the film industry. Photograph: Joe Cornick

While studying for his A-levels, Joe Cornick undertook a project close to his heart. He wanted to recreate a retro cinema utilising the local village hall where he grew up.

Though the 1930s Coronation Hall in Slindon, West Sussex, had a full projection box, no projectors had ever been put in. So in 2019, nearly 100 years later, Cornick installed a full 35mm projection facility – thanks to a generous donation of equipment from a cinema in Tonbridge, Kent, had gone fully digital.