Project Detail

Scala!!!

Synopsis

Based on the award-winning book ‘Scala Cinema 1978-1993’ by Jane Giles (FAB Press, 2018) this feature-length big screen documentary tells the riotous inside story of the infamous sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll rep house which inspired a generation during Britain's turbulent Thatcher years.
The film combines 50 new interviews with diverse audience members who went on to become filmmakers, musicians, writers, actors and artists, combined with previously unseen archive material and iconic movie clips.
With its universal themes of youthful discovery and the underdog vs. the establishment, this is no nostalgia trip but rather a film of universal relevance with clear parallels between then and now. Above all, it's a hilarious and joyous celebration of cinema-going.
Official Selection Il Cinema Ritrovato Bologna 2023 - World premiere
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2023

Details

Year
2023
Type of film
Features
Running time
96 min
Director
Jane Giles, Ali Catterall 1st Feature
Producer
Alan Marke, Jim Reid, Andy Starke
Executive Producer
Lisa Marie Russo
Editor
Edward Mills, Andrew Starke
Screenwriter
Jane Giles, Ali Catterall
Director of Photography
Sarah Appleton
Composer
Barry Adamson
Principal cast
With contributions from: John Waters, John Akomfrah, Barry Adamson, Adam Buxton, Caroline Catz, Mary Harron, Beeban Kidron, Stewart Lee, Mark Moore, Peter Strickland, Ben Wheatley, Jah Wobble
Animation Director
Osbert Parker
Full-length Film Title
Scala!!! Or, the incredibly strange rise and fall of the world's wildest cinema and how it influenced a mixed-up generation of weirdos and misfits

Categories

Production Status

Production Company

A Fifty Foot Woman, Anti-Worlds, Channel X production supported by BFI Doc Society Fund

Channel X

4 Candover Street
London
W1W 7DJ

Sales Company

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

Spacewoman Spacewoman

Director: Hannah Berryman

Year: 2024

A landmark feature documentary about astronaut Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command the Space Shuttle. Eileen’s incredible journey starts with her smalltown beginnings, sees her smash through many glass ceilings, and culminates in four dramatic space shuttle missions, the last being possibly the most dangerous and most important of them all. At its heart the film is the moving human drama of one family, where a mother’s extraordinary career takes us straight to the big philosophical question of what is the level of acceptable risk in human endeavour? This film celebrates Commander Collins’ trailblazing NASA career which opened the way for women to become spacecraft pilots and commanders, and proved a perfect riposte to a previous generation of male astronauts who thought there was no place for women to lead the way in space. Official Selection DOC NYC 2024 - World premiere Official Selection CPH:DOX 2025 - European premiere

Someone holding an umbrella in the rain at a gas station Two Days on the Interstate

Director: Tatiana Stark

Year: 2025

As thousands of people travel to see the total solar eclipse in Texas, one woman drives from Dallas to New Mexico, in search of a legal abortion. Concurrently, people in a town off the Interstate she is driving along decide whether to crack down on 'abortion traffickers' like her. Official Selection Odense Film Festival 2025

Betty Cook of National Women Against Pit Closures Iron Ladies

Director: Daniel Draper

Year: 2025

The story of working-class women who, during the 1984–85 Miners' Strike, found themselves at the forefront of a battle against the British state. From Scotland down to Kent, women from the coalfields shed light on their experiences of the year long struggle, and how they became the backbone of the Strike. With many still active today, their actions reshaped the landscape of political activism for working-class women.