Garry Hitchens wanted to set up a film club in his local village of Polgooth, Cornwall. 

The nearest cinema is only three miles away but he wanted to create a film club in the village hall to get people out of their homes and using the hall.  This would also raise much needed funds to carry out renovations to the village venue.

Garry said: “Watching films is something that most people enjoy doing at one time or another, which makes the film club something that will appeal to the majority of those living in the village.  My aims were to raise much needed funds for the village hall and to get people involved in village events, all the while doing something that I enjoy.”

He needed a cost effective projector that he could use for the film club with occasional use at home.

Polgooth Village Hall is fairly large compared to others in the area and will seat 100 people.  It has old blackout curtains which block most of the light but the projector would need to be bright enough to project a large image even on summer’s evenings when there will be a great amount of ambient light in the hall.

Having seen lots of positive Amazon reviews, Garry bought a HD141X from Costco with a 92" screen.

Although designed predominantly for domestic use, the 3,000 ANSI lumen brightness and high resolution of the HD141X allow it to be used in venues other than the home, such as film clubs.  This full 3D 1080p projector, with powerful built-in speakers, produces bright vivid colours and is ideal for use without dimming the lights.

Two HDMI inputs allow the HD141X to be simultaneously connected via HDMI to games consoles, Blu-ray players or digital television set top boxes. This makes switching between sources literally the push of a button. It can even be turned into a smart projector by connecting a smartphone or tablet with a single cable using MHL to play games, stream videos and share photos on the big screen.

Despite the small dimensions of the projector, the level of audio it creates will easily fill a living space. However its audio output allows connection to external sound systems.  Garry connected this to the hall’s two large speakers with an amplifier and a PS3 to show Blu-Rays.

Garry tested the projector in the village hall on a relatively bright day. He projected the image straight onto the hall’s back wall and the quality was excellent. The image size was almost 150" and, even when getting up very close to the projected image, the image was perfect.

Garry said: “I know the HD141X is intended as a home projector, but I went to a film club where they had the more expensive projector and I'd be hard pressed to tell a difference in picture quality and brightness between that one and mine.”

Polgooth Film Club’s first screening took place on 14 May with the Oscar-winning film The Theory of Everything.

Garry’s original intention was to use the projector for the film club with occasional use at home.  But the picture quality impressed him so much that he has set this up to use regularly at home to play games and watch films. 

Garry said: “I connected all devices into an AV receiver which feeds the projector.  It works a treat - just as well as my TV. I've gone to the extent of connecting my PC to the other HDMI input, so I can use the projector as an additional monitor to show films and TV shows easily from my computer.

“All in all this is a great, affordable projector. If room permits, people should definitely go for a projector rather than a TV and this is a good one to go for.”

Garry said: “The first film evening was a great success. Forty seven people attended and thoroughly enjoyed the film.  All were impressed with the set-up.”

The Polgooth Film Club was made possible by the C Fylm scheme.  This local project helps local communities to set up film clubs by providing an umbrella licence for all of its film clubs across Cornwall. This means groups only pay £20 each time they want to show a film, instead of £100+. It is mainly funded through annual membership, with members of the Polgooth film club being able to attend others in the county as well.

The next film club evening will be held on 11 June and then the first Thursday of every month from July onwards. It will also look to hold occasional special screenings, including films targeted at younger people in the village and themed nights.

Garry added: “I intend to show all sorts of films, but mainly critically acclaimed, award winning films that may have been missed by the general cinema goer on first release. I would also like to show cult films as well as bigger blockbusters.

“As time goes on I will get an idea from regular audience members about what they want to see, which might include more independent or foreign language releases that were not shown in the local cinemas. There has already been a suggestion of holding sing-along movie nights.

“The film club gives people the opportunity to watch these more critically acclaimed films with others, on the big screen, at an affordable price, within their community.”

Local people can look to see the upcoming films on the village website www.polgooth.weebly.com

Born and bred in Cornwall, Garry is a maths lecturer at a nearby college. Film is one of Garry’s main interests.  He said: “I find it difficult to watch lots of films nowadays, with so much good television being produced.  The film club will give me a good excuse to find the time once a month to sit down and watch a new film.”