THE
OTHER CINEMA
The Other Cinema was
set up in 1970 as a non-profit-making, independent
film distribution company in London. Its initial
management council, which helped see it through
its first difficult year, consisted of respected
members of the film industry including Albert
Finney, Harold Pinter, Irving Teitlebaum, Tony Garnett and Otto Plaschkes.
In March 1971, TOC took
up residence in a former Odeon cinema in King's
Cross (now the Scala), where it opened Gillo
Pontecorvo's magnificent Battle of Algiers
(1965). The film was a huge success, putting
TOC on the map, but the cinema's owners saw
the building's potential, and by July TOC had
lost its home.
With nowhere to exhibit
its films, TOC decided to concentrate on distribution.
Jean-Luc Godard had provided the initial motivation
for TOC by giving it the rights to his film
Le Gai Savoir (1968). This was a link that
would continue for several years - TOC was
the main UK distributor of Godard's films throughout
the 1970s.
During this period, TOC
also took into distribution The Fall by Peter
Whitehead - the first of many independent British
films on its books..
In 1973, TOC merged with
the radical group Politkino, inheriting the
films of the German filmmaker Jean-Marie Straub,
who had provided the rights on all his films
to help start it up.
TOC has always sought close
personal contact with filmmakers, and this
has resulted in many films being brought into
distribution that might otherwise never have
been seen in the UK. It has built up an impressive
catalogue of films, including works by Werner
Herzog, Pedro Almodovar, Chantal Akerman, Ousmane
Sembene, Glauber Rocha and Steve Dwoskin. As
well as playing in cinemas, these films have
been widely seen by film societies, schools,
universities, community groups and trade unions.
In the late 1970s, TOC made
another attempt to open a cinema in London,
but insufficient funding meant that it only
lasted for about a year.
In 1985, with the help of
Ken Livingstone's Greater London Council, the
TOC opened the Metro Cinema in London's West
End. The project flourished, the cinema screening
independent and alternative films, amidst more
conventional fare. Each year it hosted the
Latin American Film Festival, as well as various
other festivals, events and seasons. Early
in 2003 the Metro Cinema paid tribute to its
roots and renamed itself The Other Cinema,
but in 2005, with astronomical rent increases
imminent, the cinema was forced to close its
doors.
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Even Dwarfs Started
Small
Le Gai Savoir
Le Gai Savoir |
Matador
From The Other
Cinema catalogue, 1972
From The Other
Cinema catalogue, 1972 |
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