Cinema is usually something that gets delivered to us. The films are selected elsewhere, arranged into release schedules and placed before audiences who are invited to choose from what has already been chosen for them.
Scalarama Leeds starts with a rather more liberating proposition: what if anybody could put on a film?
Throughout September, volunteer programmers will stage screenings across Leeds - not only in cinemas, but in pubs, social spaces and other unlikely corners of the city. The result is a people-powered festival shaped not by distributors or algorithms, but by enthusiasts with a film they believe deserves an audience.
Before that month-long cinematic free-for-all begins, the programmers are gathering at Hyde Park Picture House this Friday, 14 August, to reveal the 2026 programme.
There will be a specially created festival trailer, the first opportunity to discover what will be screened across the city - and free popcorn, which remains one of cinema’s more compelling arguments for leaving the house.
The evening’s main feature is Mike Nichols’ 1990 film Postcards from the Edge, adapted by Carrie Fisher from her own semi-autobiographical novel.
Meryl Streep plays Suzanne Vale, an actor attempting to rebuild her career and remain sober after leaving rehabilitation. Her return to work comes with one significant condition: she must live with her mother, Doris Mann, a formidable Hollywood star played by Shirley MacLaine.
Fisher drew upon her own experiences of addiction, filmmaking and life with her famous mother, Debbie Reynolds. What emerged was not a solemn public confession, but a sharp comedy about survival, performance and the particular madness of families who know exactly where every emotional body is buried.
The cast also includes Gene Hackman, Rob Reiner and Annette Bening.
It is a suitably mischievous film with which to launch a festival built on personality and individual taste. Scalarama does not ask its volunteer programmers to second-guess an imagined mass audience. It gives them the space to share something they care about - and invites the rest of us to come and see why.
At a time when cultural life can feel increasingly centralised and risk-averse - this seems important. A screening need not begin with a large institution, a professional curator or a considerable budget. Sometimes it begins with somebody saying: you have to see this.
The practical work behind that apparent spontaneity is substantial. Scalarama has spent the year helping would-be programmers navigate licensing, venues, certification, ticketing, projection, subtitles and sound. The festival is democratic, but it is not careless: volunteers are supported to turn enthusiasm into a real public event.
Friday’s programme trailer has been assembled by Scalarama member Lucy Bickerton, who runs the film club Surrender Dorothy. It will offer the first glimpse of the screenings heading into venues throughout Leeds from 1 to 30 September.
MagNorth will be heading to Hyde Park Picture House to meet the people behind this year’s festival - and to ask what compels somebody to rescue a film from the streaming menu and place it before a room full of strangers.
Because perhaps cinema is at its most alive when it becomes more than content: when somebody chooses it, introduces it and watches to see whether everybody else falls for it too.
Scalarama Leeds 2026 Programme Launch: Postcards from the Edge
Friday 14 August, 6pm
Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds
Book tickets through Hyde Park Picture House
The Scalarama Leeds DIY Film Festival runs from 1–30 September. Festival information and key dates
Images supplied by Scalarama Leeds
