Price: Free

Somerset Film and Fabian’s Films present Kinokotch outdoor film screening in Wells.

Kino in Europe means cinema. Kotch in Jamaica is slang for chilling at a location for a temporary amount of time.

Bring your camping chairs and blankets and enjoy two films under the stars. The outdoor film screening will include We have Nothing but Each Other, the Kinokotch short film made by people living and working in Wells, and Woman at War (Cert 12), an entertaining Icelandic-Ukrainian comedy-drama, both of which explore environmental themes.

The Kinokotch Street Cinema Project for Wells began in September 2022 with a series of filmmaking workshops for Mendip residents with a view to commissioning the making of a new short film inspired by and located in Wells. It was on one of these workshops that five local women over the age of 60 met each other and turned their hands to filmmaking for the first time.

The five women - Kim Chenoweth, Tina Salvidge, Alison Hull, Jane Lee, and Rosa Kell - successfully pitched their idea for a film set in Wells Recreation Ground which interacts with its rich history and explores society’s neglect of the natural world and older people. Their film is inspired by Olga Tokarczuk’s International Man Booker Prize winning novel Drive your Plow over the Bones of the Dead, a noir thriller about a marginalised older lady raging against the authorities in an attempt to protect the environment.

The film highlights the issue of environmental breakdown which the team have all personally observed during their lifetimes, and is informed by various interactions with the public passing through the Recreation Ground, giving a voice to those who are typically unheard, and sharing insights about the future of this shared community space.

The Kinokotch Street Cinema Project for Wells is supported by Mendip District Council Communities Fund and Arts Council England, with special thanks to Wells City Council.

Tickets are free, but advance booking is recommended.

Please note, children aged under 16 need to be accompanied by an adult.