RIP IT UP – CUT AND PASTE! Come and join Plymouth Arts Cinema working in partnership with The Box, Plymouth and Fotonow at the end of September and beginning of October for the 2026 BFI Fan UK-wide season ‘RIP IT UP’. Celebrating the societal importance of the UK’s vast youth culture and all of the creativity, self expression, rebellion, and angst that comes along with being young.
Zine Making Workshop Friday the 18th September and Saturday 26th of September Are you ages 15 to 25 and want to use a creative way to express your experiences of what it is like to be a young person in Plymouth? Register for the street photography and zine making workshop being held at Fotonow to D.I.Y. your very own eight page zine about your personal experiences living as a young person in Plymouth. During this workshop, you will be walked through step by step how to make a zine using your own photos and other creative techniques. These final zines will also be available for audiences at the Plymouth Arts Cinema RIP IT UP film screenings. By participating in this workshop, which only costs £5.00, you will also receive a cinema pass for the RIP IT UP season, allowing you to go and see all three films being screened, including Blinded By The Light (September 26th to the 30th), Remembrance (October 2nd to the 8th), and a third film of your and other workshop participants choosing. Be sure to register for this workshop soon, as spaces are limited and you definitely don’t want to miss such a fun and creative opportunity to express your experiences of growing up in Britain’s Ocean City.
Digital Zine Workshop 3 October
Drawing inspiration from archive footage and materials selected from The Box’s collections, participants will discover different stories, perspectives and representations of the city through time and learn how to edit together a digital zine which we will screen at PAC.
Blinded By The Light (12) September 26th – 30th
Following the zine workshop, director Gurinder Chadha’s 2019 film Blinded By The Light is set to play at the Plymouth Arts Cinema from September 26th to the 30th. Set in Luton, England, in 1987, the audience follows Pakistani teen Javed (played by Viveik Kalra) as he uses poetry as a quiet, creative outlet to escape the pressures of a traditional father and the prejudice and racism he faces from others in
his town. That is until he is introduced to Bruce Springsteen by a friend. It is through the music of Springsteen, that Javed begins to find his voice within his family and community and finally begins to find his way through life.
Remembrance (15) October 2nd – 8th
Directed by Colin Gregg and featuring many legendary British actors, including Gary Oldman in his big screen debut, Remembrance (1983) follows a group of young Royal Navy sailors on a final night out on Plymouth’s very own Union Street before heading out to sea for six months in 1983. In a film that is rarely screened or seen, the audience follows as the night unfolds and sees each sailor’s story interweave with a climactic and dramatic end. An important cornerstone in British cinema, Rememberance was the first film commissioned by Channel 4 before it had even officially started broadcasting. You don’t want to miss the opportunity to see this film and the notorious Union Street on the big screen!
Reclaim The Frame Presents: Beautiful Thing (15) Saturday 3rd – Wednesday 7th October
A tender story of first love, belonging and growing up, Beautiful Thing follows neighbours Jamie and Ste as their friendship deepens into romance over the course of one long, hot summer. Reclaim The Frame’s 30th anniversary celebration of Beautiful Thing forms part of BFI Film Audience Network’s Rip It Up season, with support from the BFI, awarding National Lottery funding, and from Film4.
More To Come…
The Rip It Up season does not end there. Zine workshop participants will get the opportunity to help choose a final film for the Rip It Up film lineup – to be announced after the zine making workshops take place.
Join us this September and October for a season celebrating the importance and impact of youth culture and creativity.
By Amy Roberts
