Scottish Daily Mail

And the Oscar for the most remote cinema goes to...

- By Lucy Gray

FOR more than a century, Scots have been enthusiast­ic cinema-goers.

But locals on remote Out Skerries were unable to enjoy the pleasures of the silver screen – until now.

With 20 seats recycled from an Odeon in Manchester and even its own popcorn machine, Scotland’s newest picture house has opened on the archipelag­o in the Shetlands, serving its 70 residents.

The Schoolhous­e Cinema is the brainchild of owner Chris Harris, a fire breather and magician who moved to the area about a year ago.

He said: ‘When I bought the Schoolhous­e I realised quite early on it was a big house and I thought it would be a shame having just room after room.’

The film buff has about 4,000 DVDs and already owned a projector and red velvet curtain.

Moviegoers can snack on snow cones while enjoying the experience of Dolby surround sound, and Mr Harris hopes to soon install a hotdog machine.

He said: ‘I’ve always found in life that when things are getting a bit hard, there’s nothing like going to the cinema and escaping – even if it’s an hour-and-a-half or two hours of escapism, it’s something for the soul.’

For the grand opening last weekend, a full house enjoyed a showing of Stuart Little 2 at no charge.

Mr Harris said the cinema would continue to offer free admissions.

 ??  ?? Mini-plex: Locals on remote Out Skerries now have their own cinema, circled Just the ticket: Cinema has 20 former Odeon seats – and its own Oscar statuette
Mini-plex: Locals on remote Out Skerries now have their own cinema, circled Just the ticket: Cinema has 20 former Odeon seats – and its own Oscar statuette

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