Welcome

SAVE THE CINEMA MUSEUM CAMPAIGN – UPDATE MAY 2021

We have been in residence at the former Lambeth Workhouse for over 22 years but following the 2018 sale of our building and the surrounding site to property developers Lifestory, the long-term future of The Cinema Museum is still not secure. Our May 2021 public statement on our position is available HERE. Historical public statements as the story has rolled out can be found HERE.

Please support our battle to survive regeneration by signing the online petition HERE.

If you want to make an online donation, our JustGiving page is HERE.

If you are a UK tax payer and have already made a cash, cheque or direct payment donation to which you wish to add Gift Aid, you can download a Gift Aid form HERE.

WE FELL THROUGH THE FUNDING GAPS BUT OUR WONDERFUL VISITORS (AND ART FUND) HELPED US SURVIVE COVID

We did not qualify for the government COVID-emergency funding for arts and culture – we understand rules and we are not complaining, but since we remain closed with no income streams and bills to pay, we did have to find a different way of raising the necessary funds. We contacted our dear friends Toby Jones and Rory Kinnear who helped us launch a Crowdfunder appeal; we reached out to everyone we knew and the support was outstanding. Together we raised over £75,000 (including GiftAid) in just 7 weeks! If that wasn’t enough, a few days later we heard that our £15,000 application to Art Fund was successful. So we live to fight another day – and we can now return to the task of saving our beautiful home and securing the long-term future of The Cinema Museum – thank you for sending us into 2021 with hopeful hearts. Love from the volunteers and trustees of The Cinema Museum.

CLOSURE DURING COVID-19

The Cinema Museum has closed during the COVID-19 outbreak. All events since March 12 2020 have been cancelled – see the EVENTS page for details. If you had tickets for our cancelled events then they will have been be automatically refunded by our ticketing providers Billetto and Ticketweb. We will reopen and restart running events and tours as soon as we can viably do so. Please check back here or look on our Facebook page for news about our reopening date.

The Cinema Museum wins major Time Out award

The Museum has won the Most Loved Local Culture Spot award from the London listings magazine Time Out. More details here. While this is great news, the Museum is still under threat, and we are still urging you to sign our petition.

If you love cinema…

London’s Cinema Museum is devoted to keeping alive the spirit of cinema from the days before the multiplex. Set in historic surroundings in Kennington, close to the Elephant & Castle, The Cinema Museum houses a unique collection of artefacts, memorabilia and equipment that preserves the history and grandeur of cinema from the 1890s to the present day.

‘The Cinema Museum is culturally very important to the history of movies and gives insight into how things have changed. It was the work house where Charlie Chaplin went as a child. It is a monument of great importance to anyone interested in Cinema.’ – Sylvia Syms

VISITING THE MUSEUM

As we are unfunded and run entirely by volunteers, the Museum can only be visited by guided tour or by attending an event or screening.

GUIDED TOURS

Since we are currently closed due to the CoronaVirus health scare, tours are not available at the moment, but as soon as we reopen we will post a new list of tour dates here.

EVENTS

We host a variety of screenings and events each week. You can view all our upcoming events here.

EDUCATION PROJECTS

We work with educational institutions on joint projects and with film archives on preservation activities.

WELL-BEING INITIATIVES

We enjoy working in partnership with local well-being initiatives.

VENUE HIRE

We offer a unique cinema-themed venue for hire.

The Cinema Museum is a Registered Charity (No. 293285) and a company limited by guarantee 1865840, and it receives no public funding. It is also a member of Cinema For All.

The contents of this website are copyright of The Cinema Museum, London; please contact us for permissions before making any copies.

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