³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

The Ritz Cinema

Emphasising the haunting remnants of empty architecture and unused spaces, Coventry Ritz listens and looks at the days gone by where a sparkling cinema scene was created in the post war period by South Asian Workers who bought and programmed a cinema.

Voices of people who remember, combine with archive images & a visual portrait of the crumbling Coventry Ritz as it stands today to etch in our imagination a place where life, politics and film mingled in a sparkling moment of time.

Directed by Nirmal Puwar this video was funded by ‘Screen Rootz’, part of the British Film Institute’s national ‘Blackworld’ initiative, which celebrates black and Asian creativity and talent in film and television.

The scheme is the brainchild of Coventry-based production company, Frontline AV. The company also manages Comedy Rootz at Dogma, and Rootz Theatre productions at the Belgrade.