Tommy (1975) at The Kings Theatre

This Saturday 25th September, in association with Portsmouth Film Society, The Kings Theatre are showing Tommy in the venue where it was filmed. The Who’s landmark Rock Opera was shot at a number of locations around Portsmouth and the classic Pinball Wizard scene with Elton John was filmed inside the Kings Theatre itself! The Portsmouth Film Festival brings ‘Tommy’ back to the Kings as part of this years event.

Portsmouth Film Festival are producing a short film which documents people who were involved in the making of Tommy at locations in Portsmouth featured in the Film including The Kings Theatre with their memories, their own films and photo footage of the time. This will be shown as a prelude to the main feature film Tommy. The film will then be followed by a live tribute band, ‘Who’s Next’, making this a fantastic live music and cinematic experience!

You can also view a short article about Tommy, South Parade Pier & other facts over at ITV Meridian Tonight HERE.

Tickets: £10, £5 for students, £2 off for Concessions, Box Office 02392 828282, www.kings-southsea.com

Illustration: Deep South

Portsmouth Film Festival

The line up for this year’s Portsmouth Film Festival which takes place between the 23rd and 26th September has been unveiled. The theme this year “Oh I do like to be beside the seaside” one long weekend of film events, features, shorts, quizzes, installations, exhibitions and workshops exploring the darker side of the seaside. The festival includes a showing of The Who’s film Tommy which was filmed on location in Southsea, which will included a live band to accompany the showing as well as other treats for Tommy fans.

For full programme details visit the festival website at www.portsmouthfilmfestival.org.uk or follow them on Facebook.

Tommy

The Who’s rock musical Tommy has very strong links with Southsea, much of the outside scenes were filmed here and Ken Russell was also on hand to document the Pier burning down (nothing to do with the production!). As well as the location shots Southsea’s own Kings Theatre played host to Elton John’s iconic Pinball Wizard too! To celebrate Tommy’s anniversary The Kings Theatre will be showing the film on the 24th July and after will be holding some background talks about the film too. Only £4, tht’s cheaper than seeing a film at the Odeon plus you’ll be sat in a seat right where someone in the film watched Elton and his boots. Unmissable.

For more information see the Facebook event and the Kings Theatre.

PRIMARY – A Phoneography Exhibition by Strong Island – Call for entries

This coming new year we will be proud to announce our latest exhibition PRIMARY, a Phoneography exhibition by Strong Island and we are even happier to announce that it’s open to you, the readers.

With the continuing increase in impressive camera technology in mobile phones and the ability to alter, tweak, post process and upload the photos to social media networks and websites like Instagram, the popularity of Phoneography has never been greater.

The ‘of the moment’ ability to take a photo at almost any time and any place by most people has really driven the fact that the camera does not make the photographer. By which I mean, you don’t need an expensive camera to take outstanding photos.

Agreed, the quality of the physical image may not stand up to the big guns, but new learnings in composition, style and aesthetic by a new generation of camera users via online media has really driven this popularity, and encourage people to go beyond a ‘quick shot’.

PRIMARY invites you to get out and about around Portsea with your mobile phone camera and take photos of anything and everything based around the three primary colours red, yellow and blue. What you photograph is entirely up to you, but submissions will only be accepted if they stick to the theme.

The call for entires has now begun and the deadline is the 31st of January 2012 with the exhibition being held in March of 2012. Photos can be taken on any mobile phone model and we ask that a maximum of 3 photos per applicant are sent in to primary@strong-island.co.uk.

Please submit along with your photographs your name, photo title, phone model, location of photo on the island and any post process apps you used, if any, to achieve the final shot.

We look forward to seeing all the entries, and the final installation will be something special using every photo submitted in a slightly different fashion from your average photographic exhibition. CLICK HERE TO PRINT YOUR OWN POSTER

Poster by Tristan Savage & Photo by Paul Gonella

It’s going to be a Strong Movember – Closed at £725

Righto chaps, it’s time to clean shave your boat race and get that mighty moustache on the grow in support of Movember for The Prostate Cancer Charity and the Institute of Cancer Research. For 30 days of November you can help support and raise awareness through selflessly parading your top lip for charity.

You can sign up yourself, as I’m sure many of you already have, or you can join the Strong Island team and seek out sponsorship as a team. Through the Strong Island Movember page you can ask people to join the group, make donations, upload photos and post updates via the MoSpace page, Facebook and Twitter.

Head over to www.mobro.co/StrongIsland if you would like to get involved and grow a Strong Moustache to help raise awareness, or simply head over to www.uk.movember.com and sign up to personally raise money.

The funds raised in the UK support the number one and two male specific cancers – prostate and testicular cancer. The funds raised are directed to programmes run directly by Movember and our men’s health partners, The Prostate Cancer Charity and the Institute of Cancer Research. Together, these channels work together to ensure that Movember funds are supporting a broad range of innovative, world-class programmes in line with our strategic goals in the areas of awareness and education, survivorship and research.

Poster: Tristan Savage