Summary
Jubilant residents of a small Gloucestershire village are celebrating after winning a national cinema award. Mesne Movies, the film society in Clifford’s Mesne, near Newent, has just won the Community Award at the 2026 Cinema for All – Film Society of the Year awards.
Details
At the start of this year, the group staged the Five Villages Film Festival when five films were shown across five different villages, which won high praise from the judges. The judges said: “This is why community cinema exists; reviving film culture within community, and building community.
“Rather than being in one village, this group asked why can’t we reach out beyond that and share skills, knowledge in an area of the world that doesn’t have very much access to cinema.
This group serves its community in different ways, by connecting communities; producing fresh film culture in an existing area; and is startlingly ambitious by building community from scratch.” Villager Tom Conwell, a committee member who chairs the meetings , said: “We put on different films in village halls and before each film we showed a series of short films made by students of the University of Gloucestershire and used the festival to showcase the work of young, emerging filmmakers.
I think that’s really why the judges chose us. “The Film and TV course is run at the University’s Cheltenham site. We made contact with them and they were very helpful.
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They supplied us with a load of films and we chose the ones we wanted to put on and it seemed to go down really well.”It was certainly a group effort and we’re very pleased with it. He added: “It’s mostly older people who go to the village halls and to see something that they are never going to see elsewhere. As a filmmaker you can reach an audience you would never be able to reach so it works quite well.
“Ticket prices cover the cost of a licence. It’s not a money-making venture. People do come from nearby villages but mostly just walk to the village hall.” Mesne Movies’ autumn programme continues on Friday, October 23 with the screening of The Christophers, a 2025 black comedy from director Steven Soderbergh featuring a stellar cast including Ian McKellen, Michaela Coel, James Corden, and Jessica Gunning.
The story follows an aging, once-celebrated painter and the moral complexities that arise when his estranged children attempt to complete his final portrait series. It is a witty and poignant exploration of art, legacy, and family that you won’t want to miss. Doors open at 6.45pm and the show starts at 7.30pm.
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I think that’s really why the judges chose us. “The Film and TV course is run at the University’s Cheltenham site. We made contact with them and they were very helpful.
Report source: Punchline Gloucester
