To be fair on the SLA crew, I'd largely blame the Picturehouse for this, as I think they were trying to plug in their usual programming around the festival (there were a number of films in Screen 1 before the SLA films) and it not working very well.
They're doing a sequel to Junk Head to finish off the story. They are really good stop motion animators though so I would be up for anything they decide to do after that!
Do we think its back to the Filmhouse next year?
I'd say it's unlikely. Being at the special Chao screening, I prefer the Filmhouse to the Cameo as they've done a great job with the refurb, but the screen has lost a lot of seats, and when it's bums on seats that the organisers are looking for, it doesn't make financial sense to make a permanent move back there. I think you could do the one off or have overflow screenings there, but I think all the main films will continue to be shown at The Cameo.
The "Robots in London" Strand (working title) was also by Kambole Campbell, which was better - although any festival strand showing Promare will get my approval.
Post covid I think my train and hotel costs for SLA have basically doubled. It really shouldn't be £500 to get to and sleep in a city in my own country for between 2-4 days.
It's funny that my annual Cineworld membership is almost the same as the Picturehouse Membership (which I gte to use the 10 free tickets at SLA because its cheaper, even though my nearest PH is over an hour away) and they part of the same group. I've seen 66 films at the cinema this year, 9 being at SLA.
The membership is a good strategy, the Cameo would be my nearest picturehouse - not that it is particularly close at over three hours away lol. They do have good deals on memberships but nothing really beats unlimited. £12.99 a month and 35 films with unlimited this year, I've been slacking.
You've beaten the 3 a month films needed to 'justify' it and ultimately you have to value your time. I don't go see films for the sake of it with Unlimited. My friends were very surprised during my biggest year when I hit 95 that I didn't 'go for the 100' but that beats the point because I'd be seeing films that would have held zero interest. The other thing I love with Unlimited is you can see something more than once if you really love it which would feel bad if you paid per ticket.
Unfortunately that doesn't apply for the Dublin cinema, it's €18 for Unlimited here and they only have 1 cinema in the country and it's a rundown pos. It was in the middle of getting renovated before Covid and was never finished with only 4 screens completed and the biggest non Imax screen left unfinished and closed since then.
It's been a bad year for me and Cineworld, I have been cheating on it quite often because they don't show Anime Limited releases anymore! I'm trying to go for 80 films this in the cinema this year but I'm only at 66 so it's looking unlikely. Although, with the Vue shutting down here next month there'll be less (read: no) competition for my cinema-goings next year. I do sometimes go for the sake of it, it's good to get out and watch more stuff and I like to double up on films when I go to the cinema - saves time getting to the cinema and back.
Filmhouse have a membership that is broadly equivalent to the Picturehouse one (and slightly cheaper), but obviously it can't be used anywhere else other than the Filmhouse.
Of the 3 non-SLA anime I've seen at the cinema this year I had to cheat twice. The Colors Within I had to drive an hour to Leeds Showcase, COLORFUL STAGE! The Movie: A Miku Who Can't Sing was at my local Odeon and Chainsaw Man The Movie: Reze Arc was at CW (but in 4DX and it was a nightmare!). We didn't even get The Boy and the Heron in 2023 between CW, Odeon and Vue. It's a real nightmare for anime fans in Hull, guess there aren't many of us!