A youth-led community cinema is the first project to get underway as part of First Art’s producer scheme.

Inside Eye Cinema is a community cinema in Mansfield with ambitions to bring well-known and loved films to life through interactive events and activities and has been set up in partnership with Inspire Youth Arts and funding from Cinema for All.

Its first ambitious event took place two days before Christmas with a special immersive-style screening of the seasonal family classic, Elf at The Old Library, Mansfield.

This debut event included a screening of Elf the movie together with all sorts of festive fun inspired by the film including elf hat-making, cookie decorating, elf singalongs and lots of candy!

16-year old Isa Ackroyd, a founding member of Inside Eye Cinema, said:

I love Christmas and Christmas films, especially Elf, so it’s really exciting for me to be part of a project like this. We wanted to offer something a little bit different for families in Mansfield in the the build-up to Christmas.

Karl Greenwood, First Art Director added:

We want to give local people an opportunity to put on great events in Mansfield and support them with their ideas. The young people we’ve worked with came up with the name Inside Eye Cinema, selected the film, chose the activities and even shaped and decided on the logo.

Immersive cinema has been around for a number of years but often in bigger towns and cities and with high ticket prices. The hope is that Inside Eye Cinema’s events will give more people the chance to try out this sort of experience and it’s the group’s ambitions are to develop their events into a fully immersive experience too.

Exciting times!