We’re excited to unveil the bespoke projects we’re supporting as part of the BFI FAN’s UK-wide melodrama season.
From camp cinema takeovers in Blackpool and craft-along screenings in Newcastle, to live scores and global melodramas in Leeds, a Douglas Sirk season in Manchester, and double bills with listening parties in Sheffield - each one is designed to make the big-screen experience unforgettable and give audiences fresh ways to dive deeper into the world of melodrama.
Aunty Social: Camp at the Cinema
Chester, Blackpool, Preston, November 2025 - January 2026
Camp at the Cinema is a funny, engaging and insightful cinema talk with a difference. Using comedy, lip sync, short clips, insights into cinema history and costume, audiences will be entertained and educated as they explore some of the campest melodramatic moments ever captured on film.
The creators of video series Camp in the Collection will guide audiences on a cinematic journey that highlights the close relationship between the concept of camp and Melodrama. Following each lively performance, audiences can settle in to enjoy the lush All That Heaven Allows (1955), Queer classic Showgirls (1995)and modern melodrama Strange Way of Life (2023) at venues in Chester, Blackpool, and Preston.
As self-professed experts on camp, we can’t wait to be part of such an exciting season. We’re going to celebrate all of the things we absolutely love about seeing over the top ridiculousness on the silver screen. Whether it’s that 'so bad it’s brilliant, je ne sais quoi', or those questionable yet committed acting choices that pull at the seams of taste and talent. Long live camp cinema. - Harry Clayton-Wright, Camp at the Cinema host
Aunty Social is a grassroots community arts organisation that gives people opportunities to develop their creativity, learn new skills and connect with others through positive creative activities. They are the home of Blackpool Film Festival.
This duo of accessible craft-along film screenings at Newcastle City Library – aimed at neurodivergent, LGBTQIA+ and intergenerational audiences – will explore the influence of 50s melodrama Peyton Place (1957) on cult classic Twin Peaks (1990). Both screenings will be supported by “book club” discussions that invite audiences to share their views on the screenings and the books linked to them (Grace Metalious’s Peyton Place and Jennifer Lynch’s The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer).
Tickets will be Pay What You Decide, and each event will include craft-along activities ranging from Twin Peaks-themed colouring sheets to knitting, sewing and crochet. An accompanying exhibition outside the screening area will delve deeper into the connections between the films and books, exploring their cultural impact and themes such as representations of sex and scandal.
Daydream Cinema is an autistic-owned film exhibition organisation focusing on accessible screenings, events and programming opportunities for neurodivergent and disabled people in Tyne and Wear.
Melodrama at Hyde Park Picture House
Leeds, November 2025 – January 2026
Hyde Park Picture House will explore both the classic and lesser-known sides of melodramatic cinema, featuring Nollywood, Bollywood, Hollywood and Hallmark. In addition to the drama on screen, audiences can expect live musical scores, live performances (from burlesque to dress-up opportunities) and even a cosy Christmas hot cocoa romance cuddle-in.
The headline event will be a silent film screening of The Unknown, accompanied by a live score performed on a bespoke electronic instrument created by a local musician. Local independent programmer Alice Miller will also curate a pairing of classic melodrama titles.
The cinema will collaborate with artists and its in-house programming group, Guilt Free Pleasures, to explore the Hallmark phenomenon in a UK context, while also engaging young audiences with screenings that feature performance elements and themed drinks.
Hyde Park Picture House is a Grade II listed independent cinema in Leeds, known for being the very last gas-lit cinema in the UK. Their contemporary film programme ranges from mainstream to art-house and foreign language, with regular screenings of specialist films and touring programmes.
Too Much: Melodrama on Film at HOME
Manchester,November 2025 – January 2026
HOME’s season tracks the development of melodrama on film – from an iconic weepy of early cinema to the melodramatic masterpieces of mid-century Hollywood, and beyond. Stops along the way include a focus on Margaret Lockwood, the first lady of British melodrama; an examination of masculinity and melodrama; and a season dedicated to genre-defining filmmaker Douglas Sirk and his influence on pioneer of New German Cinema, Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
Highlights include a 35mm screening of Nicholas Ray’s Bigger Than Life (1956), co-presented by local film curators who’ll explore how the melodramatic mode has challenged traditional ideas of cinematic masculinity.
HOME is an independent cinema, theatre and art gallery in Manchester city centre, showcasing the very best in contemporary and classic cinema.
Too Much: Melodrama on Film at Showroom Cinema
Sheffield, October – December 2025
Alongside a series of unmissable films as part of their weekly Showroom Classics strand and a dedicated Film Studies screening and lecture programme, Too Much at Showroom also features special events and collaborative mini-seasons which engage with these iconic films in unexpected ways – from an introduction to the melodrama of Mexico to a listening party of Lorde’s seminal album, Melodrama.
Film historian Dr Sheldon Hall will deliver the Film Studies strand, drawing on academic theory to explore portrayals of women and provide vital historical context on the programme. Melodrama’s fascination with obsession will be celebrated with a double bill: The Phantom of the Opera (1925), screened with a live score, and Phantom of the Paradise (1974).
I'm really delighted to have received funding for Too Much: Melodrama at Showroom. The season celebrates two of our favourite things - classic film and collaboration! We're also looking forward to being able to engage with the theme of Melodrama in unique ways. I might be biased, but I can't wait for our Lorde listening party. - Isobel Harrop, Assistant Programmer: Young Audiences
Showroom is Sheffield’s original and leading independent cinema, showing handpicked films and events in the heart of the city.
Ready to celebrate the visual excess and dramatic power of melodrama? There’s still time to get involved: choose from a menu of key titles from UK distributors and access up to £125 per film to support wraparound activity and audience development.
