It’s a dark night deep in the hills of Rwanda. In a remote village thousands of people gather cramming themselves into any space available watching in awe as one of a new breed of big screens stands ready to bring movies to the masses. Welcome to the peculiar magic of Hillywood https://www.bookthecinema.com/.
Hillywood started up about five years ago. Rwanda, seeking to escape the rigors of genocide, decided to forge a new film industry virtually from scratch. It was a bold move and would only have been possible thanks to this mobile film festival showing locally made produce to people who would otherwise never have access to the special magic of movies.
The technology that makes Hillywood possible is being applied all over the world giving people a new and fantastic ways to enjoy film. It’s the return of the drive in; a glorious open air experience where people can gather with friends and enjoy any one of a number of classic movies on a great big screen.
The experience can be so much more involved than in a tired old cinema. One event, for example, has a showing of The Italian Job. As the audience warms up, a fleet of Minis charge into the arena prompting a spontaneous round of applause. The crowd is far more animated than any other cinema goers anywhere in the world. That might be in part down to the beer provided by the show sponsors, but even so this is a special occasion.
The one downside is the weather. These are definitely summertime only events and even then they are prone to the peculiar mercies of the British climate. It’s fair to say that if the rain comes down you might not enjoy it quite so much. However it does evoke a sense of survivor mentality as you hunker down underneath your coats and stare at the film trying not to think about what might happen if these big screens get struck by lightning.
Fun as it is, though, this is not the main reason why these big screens came into being. The primary sources of income for the manufacturers comes through the advertising industry. These can be placed up in any public place conveying all sorts of information and any number of ways. You can see them at music festivals, sporting events, train stations: anywhere there are people you’ll find one or more of these big screens broadcasting their message to the world.
