Scotland’s Most Southerly Cinema, Isle of Whithorn
It's more than just a film club....
Machars Movies is a successful communities-led venture bringing critically acclaimed films and a highly social cinema experience to the Machars peninsula.
Bringing communities together with the BIG SCREEN...
Screenings take place in the well equipped St. Ninian’s Hall Cinema at the Isle of Whithorn.
Showdates are usually on Saturdays, and occasionally some films may be timed to support other local events. For a list of forthcoming screenings simply check the schedule below.
Non-members: £6 per screening.
Membership
Machars Movies is run as a self-funding venture - membership fees cover only the cost of putting on films and the hire of the Cinema, so your support by joining is vital in enabling us to plan ahead. Annual membership is £30. (Concessions £25). This will entitle you to attend all screenings in the 2012 programme at the privileged Members’ price of just £2.50 per show.
Become a member...
Click here for more information
The Isle of Whithorn
Films coming soon...
Please check this page regularly for information about forthcoming screenings as scheduled programmes may be likely to change at short notice.
Today
Time: 7.30 PM
MACHARS MOVIES presents 'THE GLENN MILLER STORY'. The Glenn Miller Story traces his rise from pit-orchestra trombone player to leader of the most successful big band of his era. During World War II, Miller (played by James Stewart) leads the ‘swingiest’ military band ever heard with classics such as 'Moonlight Serenade', 'Chattanooga Choo Choo', and 'Little Brown Jug'. Louis Armstrong & Gene Krupa also star. (Cert U - 107 mins)
Thursday, February 09, 2012 Time: 2pm. to 4pm.
Thursday Club. Join the over fifties for fun. Venue: St. Ninian's Hall, Isle of Whithorn
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Time: 7.30 PM
MACHARS MOVIES presents 'THE MISSION'. A visually stunning epic, recounting the true story of a man of the sword (Robert De Niro) and a man of the cloth (Jeremy Irons) -- both Jesuit missionaries who defy the colonial forces of Spain and Portugal to save an Indian tribe from slavery in mid-18th-century South America. Ennio Morricone’s haunting musical score weaves a stunning combination of church choirs and native Indian panpipes. (Cert PG - 120 mins) Venue: St Ninian's Hall Cinema
Saturday, March 03, 2012
Time: 7.30 PM
MACHARS MOVIES presents 'KES'. Rebellious Billy Casper finds that training a kestrel takes his mind off his troubled home life and the bullies at school. Brought to the big screen by Palme d’Or-winning director Ken Loach, best known for his early kitchen sink dramas and set in the Northern English town of Barnsley, 'Kes' is a gritty slice of working-class life in the ‘60s. (Cert PG -106mins) Venue: St Ninian's Hall Cinema
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Time: 5.00 PM
MACHARS MOVIES EASTERN THEME NIGHT - 'EAST IS EAST' and 'WEST IS WEST'. Our popular Themed evenings return with a special double bill - George Khan, a proud Pakistani chip shop owner has to cope with a young family that has its own ideas about growing up. Two hilarious and moral tales spanning five years that show the sometimes seismic collisions of two cultures in one family... A great theme night with a difference - enjoy either or both films with a sumptuous curry in between! 'East is East' starts at 5pm; the Curry will be served at 7pm; and 'West is West' begins at 8pm. ADVANCE BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL Venue: St Ninian's Hall Cinema
Saturday, April 07, 2012
Time: 6.30 PM
MACHARS MOVIES presents 'BEN HUR'. The acclaimed Easter blockbuster movie, now fully restored and presented in High Definition, winner of 11 Academy Awards. The tale of Jewish prince Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston), who lives in Judea with his family during the time that Jesus Christ was becoming known for his radical teachings. The highlight of the film’s 212 minutes is its legendary chariot race, and Ben-Hur’s Oscar haul included Best Picture, Best Director for William Wyler, Best Actor for Heston, and Best Supporting Actor for Welsh actor Hugh Griffith as an Arab sheik. (And there is an Intermission!) (Cert PG) Venue: St Ninian's Hall Cinema
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Time: 7.30 PM
MACHARS MOVIES presents 'A SHINE OF RAINBOWS'. Joyful, warm and caring, Maire adopts a young orphan named Tomas and whisks him off to a new home on a remote island off the coast of Ireland. She shares with him the joys of her island and introduces him to the folklore, including the secret of the seals, and teaches him that everything you need is inside of you - if you really look. Her husband Alec is unsympathetic to Tomas, and when tragedy strikes, the boy is faced with his greatest challenge yet... (Cert PG - 97mins) Venue: St Ninian's Hall Cinema
Saturday, May 05, 2012
Time: 7.30 PM
MACHARS MOVIES presents 'ARMADILLO'. An upfront account of growing cynicism and adrenaline addiction for young soldiers at war. A Danish platoon is stationed at Camp Armadillo, right on the Helmand frontline, fighting tough battles against the Taliban. The film is a tension-packed journey into the soldier’s minds and a unique real-life account that was both controversial and remarkable for its verité, documentary style. (Cert 15 - 105mins) Venue: St Ninian's Hall Cinema
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Time: 7.30 PM
MACHARS MOVIES presents JOHN WAYNE in 'HELLFIGHTERS'. Screen legend John Wayne pays tribute to oil field legend “Red” Adair, as Wayne plays a colourful Texan who tames out-of-control infernos in exotic locations around the world. Between blazes Chance “carries the torch” for Madelyn, the wife who left him 20 years earlier because of his dangerous lifestyle. Directed by action veteran Andrew McLaglen, this film features spectacular special effects and exciting locations in Texas and Wyoming. As the Duke said, “I’ve made a lot of action movies, but never one as exciting as Hell Fighters.” (Cert PG -115mins) Venue: St Ninian's Hall Cinema
Saturday, June 02, 2012
Time: 7.30 PM
MACHARS MOVIES presents KEN RUSSELL's 'THE MUSIC LOVERS'. Ken Russell was one of cinema’s most challenging and creative directors. His early music films on Elgar and Delius won world-wide acclaim. Piotr Tchaikovsky gets the Ken Russell treatment in a bizarre yet compelling story of his life and music. In the director’s own words: “It’s the story of the marriage between a homosexual and a nymphomaniac.” Starring Richard Chamberlain and Glenda Jackson. André Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra perform Tchaikovsky’s music. (Cert 15 - 118mins) Venue: St Ninian's Hall Cinema
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Time: 7.30 PM
MACHARS MOVIES presents TERRENCE MALICK's 'DAYS OF HEAVEN'. An exquisitely photographed story of a group of early-20th-century itinerant workers who find themselves entangled in a deadly love triangle. Notorious for its on-set difficulties and extended postproduction, the film is a beautifully composed work of art. Terrence Malick’s direction, Nestor Almendros’s Oscar-winning cinematography and Ennio Morricone’s score all create a real classic. Venue: St Ninian's Hall Cinema
Saturday, August 04, 2012
Time: 6.30 PM
MACHARS MOVIES - WESTERN THEME NIGHT - 'CAT BALLOU'. For the August Holiday Weekend a Classic Western and a scrummy barbecue. Jane Fonda and Lee Marvin come together for this Western spoof that became the biggest box-office hit of 1965 and earned Marvin an Oscar for his twin performances. The film also features a cameo by inimitable crooner Nat King Cole, who sings the title song The Legend of Cat Ballou. (Cert PG - 92 mins) ADVANCE BOOKING ESSENTIAL Venue: St Ninian's Hall Cinema
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Time: 7.30 PM
MACHARS MOVIES presents 'IRIS'. The inspiring and heartbreaking story of English novelist Dame Iris Murdoch. From the height of her romantic adventures as a student at Oxford in the 1950s, to life with her partner in old age, struggling with decline, as her brilliant mind is ravaged by the effects of Alzheimer’s. Judi Dench gives an outstanding performance, the film is uniquely sensitive and finely acted. (Cert 15 - 87mins) Venue: St Ninian's Hall Cinema
Saturday, September 01, 2012 Time: 7.00
MACHARS MOVIES presents 'AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 QUESTIONS'. Following the great success of the first quiz night in 2011, tonight we'll be travelling in style: Around the World in Eighty Questions is our theme. Make up a team or come and join others to have a great night out! No passport or nasty injections needed! Venue: St Ninian's Hall Cinema
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Time: 7.30 PM
MACHARS MOVIES presents 'THE MAGGIE'. From the director of Whisky Galore, here’s another delightful Ealing Studios classic. A wealthy American businessman and a wily old Clyde puffer skipper attempt to outwit each other, and show a Glasgow and shipping of days gone by. (Cert U - 88mins) Venue: St Ninian's Hall Cinema
Saturday, October 06, 2012
Time: 7.30 PM
MACHARS MOVIES presents 'ORANGES AND SUNSHINE'. The real-life story of Margaret Humphreys, a social worker from Nottingham, who uncovered one of the most significant social scandals in recent times: the forced migration of children from the United Kingdom. They were promised oranges and sunshine, they got hard labour and life in institutions. Almost singlehandedly, against overwhelming odds and with little regard for her own well-being, Margaret reunited thousands of families, brought authorities to account and worldwide attention to an extraordinary miscarriage of justice. (Cert 15 - 101mins) Venue: St Ninian's Hall Cinema
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Time: 7.30 PM
MACHARS MOVIES presents 'OF GODS AND MEN'. A monastery perched in the mountains of North Africa in the 1990s. Eight French Christian monks live in harmony with their Muslim brothers. When a crew of foreign workers is massacred by an Islamic fundamentalist group, fear sweeps though the region. The army offers them protection, but the monks refuse. Should they leave? Despite the growing menace in their midst, they slowly realize that they have no choice but to stay... come what may. (Cert 15 - 122 mins) Venue: St Ninian's Hall Cinema
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Time: 8.00 PM
MACHARS MOVIES presents 'THE AFRICAN QUEEN'. The boozing, smoking, cussing captain of a tramp steamer, Charlie Allnut, saves prim and proper Rose Sayer after her brother is killed by German soldiers at the beginning of World War I in Africa. Many quarrels later, the two set sail to sabotage a German ship. C S Forester’s novel, Hepburn and Bogie (who won an Oscar) make this a thoroughly enjoyable blend of comedy and adventure. Beautifully restored and screened in high definition. (Cert PG - 105mins ) Venue: St Ninian's Hall Cinema
Saturday, December 01, 2012
Time: 7.30 PM
MACHARS MOVIES presents 'THE WAY'. The third collaboration between writer/director/actor Emilio Estevez and his actor father Martin Sheen. The film is the tender, poignant story of Tom, an American who arrives in France to collect the remains of his recently deceased son. Grief stricken and in search of a way to understand his son better, Tom decides to follow in his footsteps and embarks on the spectacular and potentially hazardous walk through the Pyrenees that claimed the life of his boy... (Cert 12 - 128 mins) Venue: St Ninian's Hall Cinema
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Time: 7.30 PM
MACHARS MOVIES presents 'THE CONCERT'. In Soviet-era Russia, Andrei Filipov, conductor of the Bolshoi Orchestra, is stripped of his position during a performance of a Tchaikovsky concerto for refusing to expel his Jewish musicians. 30 years later, working at the theatre as a janitor, he intercepts a fax inviting the orchestra to play in Paris. Filipov reunites the sacked musicians and leads them on a mission to finish the concert they began in the 1980s, and regain their identity, dignity and pride. (Cert 15 - 119 mins) Venue: St Ninian's Hall Cinema
About Machars Movies
Machars Movies - bringing critically acclaimed award-winning films and a highly social cinema experience to the communities of the Machars. Back in January 2009, thanks to funding from Scottish Screen and an enormous amount of volunteer effort, we were able to move forward with the creation of Scotland’s most southerly cinema at the Isle of Whithorn. Five months later Machars Movies had become a reality. It’s hard to believe what has been achieved. Once again we have a very full programme for 2012, with two themed nights taking place, and these are certain to be extremely popular, so Advance Booking is strongly recommended. Look out for announcements giving more information about these and our participation in other local and regional arts festivals, when we plan to have extra screenings.
Our Objectives
To advance the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of film as an art form, and as a medium for education and information. We will also promote artistic and technical creativity in audio-visual techniques within our communities.
Machars Movies Team
We are extremely grateful to the many enthusiasts from communities in the south Machars who have agreed to be part of the team to take this project forward. The Committee for 2012 are:
- Douglas Ballantyne
- Kenny Barr
- Byron Chamberlain
- Kirsty Currie (Chair)
- Ian Duncanson (Treasurer)
- Jeanette Duncanson (Secretary)
- Ian Fraser (Vice Chair)
- Hugh Jaques
- Michael Marshall
- Steve Robinson
- Linda Vickers
If you would like to contact or help us in any way at Machars Movies please call Jeanette Duncanson on 01988 500911.
Membership
Membership is open to anyone over the age of 16*, and costs £30. (Concessions £25). This will entitle you to attend all screenings in the 2012 programme at the privileged Members’ price of just £2.50 per show.
Guest tickets at the door will cost £6, and young persons' tickets £2.50. It's important to remember that seating at the Hall will be limited - so Membership will be similarly limited, and seat bookings will be on a first come, first served basis.
Membership forms and full programme details are available from:
- Isle of Whithorn (Post Office)
- Whithorn (The Whithorn Newsagent & The Library)
- Port William (The Paper Shop, South West Hardware & The Library)
- Garlieston (Mac's Stores)
- Wigtown (Box of Frogs, Machars Action & The Library)
You can also obtain membership packs from any Committee Member, or by downloading our current programme and Membership application form.
*To comply with the law, admission to screenings will be restricted according to the BBFC film rating.
We reserve the right to change the programme without notice.
How can I help?
- Join Machars Movies – become a Member, get to see some great films and enjoy being part of a social group!
- Maybe you’re as inspired as we are and can help us plan and run events!
- If you are interested in being part of a film-making group we’d also like to hear from you!
Machars Movies wins Best Rural Enterprise Award 2009
At a special reception held at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh on 8th December, MACHARS MOVIES learned that it had received the Scottish Countryside Alliance ‘Best Rural Enterprise’ Award for 2009.
This small community cinema, the most southerly in Scotland at the Isle of Whithorn, and serving the small villages and towns of the Machars Peninsula in Wigtownshire came into being in April 2009, thanks to a grant from Scottish Screen’s Digital Projection Equipment Fund awarded last January. Coupled with further support funding from the Isle of Whithorn’s community Regeneration charity, Isle Futures; the Scottish Arts Council and Dumfries & Galloway Council’s Village Hall Improvement Scheme, and along with much voluntary labour, St Ninian’s Hall – the home of Machars Movies - is now an all-purpose venue complete with an 80-seat cinema.
It is one of 11 licensed Cinemas in Dumfries & Galloway, and following an inaugural season of well-attended monthly screenings, Machars Movies’ 2010 programme, selected by popular vote of the cinema’s patrons, has been drawn up. It will be launched on Thursday, December 10th, and full details can be found on the cinema website www.macharsmovies.co.uk
Entrants for the awards are nominated by the public and judged by a panel of experts who visited the companies and individuals shortlisted for the categories. Each of the categories highlights important elements of community life in rural Scotland, and each year the awards attract an increasing number of nominations.
Presenting the Awards, Mr John Lamont, MSP for Roxburgh & Berwickshire, said: “These awards recognise the hard work and innovation of businesses and organisations which are vital to rural Scotland.”
Mike Marshall, who is the Chair for Machars Movies, and Kenny Barr, Chair of Isle Futures, the community Regeneration Charity expressed their delight at the accolade: “Machars Movies and the Cinema facility that we now have has become a vital component in ensuring that a viable business can be developed around the community’s most vital social asset – its village hall. In the short space of eighteen months a run-down building has been taken over by the community and transformed into a venue with considerable business potential. But equally important, we are providing a new, highly social focus within the Machars where surrounding communities can participate and share in the great experience of the moving image. At last we can tap into the great wealth of material that is available for us all to see, to be entertained, and occasionally be challenged, no matter what age.
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