Past Event: THE INTOUCHABLES (15)

Last night we showed a French feature film on the Enchanted Cinema big screen for the first time.  And what a film to start on. The Intouchables.  If you weren’t in the audience, or haven’t already seen it, please watch this film.  It is at once inspiring, touching and dramatic as well as being silly and really, really funny.

One of our favourite things about showing a comedy at Enchanted Cinema is the laugh-out-loud moments in the film.  As the audience watches and experiences the film wearing wireless headsets,  The Orchard Tea Gardens is for the most part silent.  If you didn’t know the event was taking place, you wouldn’t suspect a thing from the outside.  But when there’s a funny moment, that silence is broken by laughter and it is just magical.  A hundred or so giggles breaking silence under the stars in such a a beautiful setting is really something else.

A big thanks to SJ Mortimer, local musician, for performing a magical and soulful acoustic set before the film.  It was also an absolute pleasure to have the lovely people of The Wood Fired Food Co. serving their delicious pizzas all evening.

Cambridge-based film maker Robyn Wilton is selecting the short films that we show before the feature film at each of our events at The Orchard Tea Gardens this summer.  She has teamed up with Channel 4 Random Acts to put together a programme of great independent shorts.  Last night we showed All That Is.  It is an honour and a privilege to showcase young film makers’ work to our lovely Cambridge audiences.

On Sunday evening we’re back for another evening of French cinema under the stars, next with a classic.  Amelie, Ellen’s favourite film.  Big love and thanks for everyone who joined us last night, we hope to see you again very soon.  Team EC x

Past Event: ROMEO + JULIET (12A)

Romeo + Juliet in The Orchard Tea Gardens was magical.  Another perfect summer’s evening!

Tom Petite of local music collective Unpluggedin performed an acoustic set and had the audience giggling between songs.  You can catch him at ‘The Beaky’ (The Earl of Beaconsfield) on Thursday evenings alongside a host of other great local musicians.

Just before Max Bianco played at Rogue One: A Star Wars Story on Friday

Photograph by @EnchantedCinema

We had street food from local vendor Road Dogs as they served up their delicious hot dogs.

Popcorn and hot dogs at the cinema, just like at classic drive-ins! Deckchairs instead of car seats though, and under the trees of The Orchards of Grantchester.

Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio star in Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 adaptation of Shakespeare’s infamous Romeo and Juliet.  The romance was most definitely felt in the air as the sun set and the lights in the trees glittered through the leaves.

Thank you to the lovely audience who shared such a romantic evening of drinks, street food, Cambridge acoustic, popcorn and cinema under the stars.

This was a one-off pop-up cinema & picnics night.  And the audience went all out! Picnic hampers, fresh strawberries.  Ellen’s homemade brownies sold from the EC bar made a perfect dessert.

For the first time Star Wars was on the Enchanted Cinema big screen and it was just magical.  A perfect, warm summer’s evening under the stars!

Local musician Max Bianco performed a spell-binding set.  Big thanks to him, we love being able to showcase local musicians and it was great to feel that the audience were enjoying listening to some Cambridge accoustic as much as we do!

Sarah & Jess having a giggle at Star Wars tonight

Photograph by @EnchantedCinema

We’d added yet more lights. And so The Orchard Tea Gardens glittered more than had yet. As everyone pulled their headsets over their ears, got cosy in their deckchair and the sun set, it was the most beautiful scene.

Smiling faces were lit up under the glow of the screen and twinkling lights. That’s what Enchanted Cinema is all about!

We’ll be sure to screen another Star Wars film under the stars again soon.  We’ve got a couple of our favourite classics in mind.

Past Event: GREASE (PG)

We got chills, they’re multiplying… Our first evening of Enchanted Cinema at The Orchard Tea Gardens Cambridge!  Here we are the day after a wonderful evening watching Grease back on our big screen, in the most glittering, magical, iconic and quintessentially ‘Cambridge’ gardens.

Some thank yous first of all. Alice Brian, local musician: you are just great. Alice played a beautiful acoustic set as the Enchanted Cinema audience settled in their deckchairs, drinks in hand.

Franck (the chef behind Cambridge restaurants La Maison du Steak and Le Gros Franck) brought down his street food van Pull Me Cheri. Fresh popcorn being popped alongside our bar, opposite some seriously delicious French street food being served… Just perfect.

What a lovely audience too. Loads of laughter, lots of smiles.

The atmosphere last night was just as we’d imagined it would be. When we first visited The Orchard Tea Gardens we had an idea of just how magical it could be to have an open air cinema pop up in the clearing there, between trees. Our imaginations ran wild with excitement.

Lights entwined in branches, deckchairs under dappled light… Though we never could have imagined just how perfect everything would come together. As groups of friends and families sat alongside like-minded cinema and local events lovers, the atmosphere was really something else. With the trees sparkling, draped in lights, the screen casted that lovely warm glow over smiling faces.

We’ve got a few weeks until the next Enchanted Cinema outdoor cinema event at The Orchard Tea Gardens, and it can’t come around soon enough.

Thank you to all the Pink Ladies, & Gentlemen who shared the magic of Grease under the stars with us. See you soon, here’s to many, many more!