Northampton cinema reopens with Christmas movie 'mash-ups'
An independent cinema has celebrated its reopening with a series of Christmas "mash-up" movie scenes created by local students.
The Northampton Filmhouse, run by the Royal & Derngate theatre, has been close since March due to Covid-19. Students from the University of Northampton's BA Illustration course have created pictures and animations which will be shown before films. Combinations to have teamed up include Home Alone with Elf or with Die Hard. Chief executive of the theatres, Jo Gordon, said the artwork was "a joy". Students were each given a well-known Christmas movie and asked to create a "mash-up" with another popular festive film. The films also included The Muppet Christmas Carol and It's a Wonderful Life. Ms Gordon said: "Creative learning opportunities are very central to our work at Royal & Derngate." She said she hoped the students would enjoy seeing their illustrations "put to good use and brought to a wider audience" as supporting features. The two-screen cinema reopened on Friday with help from a £2.1m grant from the government's £1.57bn support package for the arts. Seating capacity has been reduced and cinema-goers will be given a specific time to arrive to reduce queuing. Zoe Taylor, senior lecturer for the BA Illustrations course, said: "It's been great for the students to have had a real live project to get their teeth into, on such a fun topic, and to get some insight into the operations, marketing and branding of an organisation like Northampton Filmhouse." Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk