Join us to learn about the development of cinema in West Sussex

Cinema historian Dr Frank Gray will tell the story of West Sussex cinemas beginning with the arrival of the travelling showmen in the late 1890s and the opening of the first dedicated cinemas in the 1910s. In the early twentieth century, this new technology and this new entertainment changed every high street in the county. Using films from the collection of Screen Archive South East, Frank will focus on three cinemas in West Sussex:

• The Corn Exchange / Granada Cinema in Chichester – which first showed a film in 1896
• The Whitehall Cinema in East Grinstead – which opened on London Road in 1910
• The Heath Cinema in Haywards Heath – which opened on The Broadway in 1911
Their histories reveal the role the cinema played in the commercial and cultural histories of these towns.
The talk will last up to an hour, with an opportunity to ask questions via the chat box.