Coventry Ritz Cinema
Journal: FilesEmphasizing the haunting remnants of emptied out architecture and unused spaces, Coventry Ritz listens to the days when social scenes were produced in the British post-war period by South Asian workers who bought and programmed cinemas. Voices of people remembering are layered with archive images and a visual portrait of the crumbling Ritz as it stands today (before being demolished) to etch, in our imagination, where life, politics and film once mingled. This film is a reflection on the methods of looking back ‘now’ to ‘then’.
Directed by Nirmal Puwar and Produced by AV Frontline.
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The Coventry Ritz film was supported by BFI ScreenRootz - also viewable here and and on the BBC Coventry site [updated 9/9/07]
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An interesting and revealing documentary that captures some of the magic, mayhem, and community politics of bygone Brit-SAsian cinema days in Indie cinema houses. Thanks N.Puwar!
Here’s a link to some research on cinema going and Hindi film audiences in Birmingham:
R.K. Dudrah (2002) ‘Vilayati Bollywood: Popular Hindi Cinema-Going and Diasporic South Asian Identity in Birmingham (UK)’ in Javnost: Journal of the European Institute for Culture and Communication, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp.9-36.
[…] Bhattacharya; Inderpal Grewal; Ronit Lentin and Jasbir Kaur Puar; a poetic filmic mediation on the Coventry Ritz Cinema by Nirmal Puwar; a review essay on the film Crash by Paul Gormley; a review of Yinka Shonibare at […]