And what a year it was!
The past twelve months saw The Nomad come to life as it roamed its way across London and the South East; stopping at numerous beautiful, interesting, exciting and unique locations along the way.
Summer saw weird and wonderful things from The Nomad; we mingled with movie royalty in palaces and castles, journeyed through time and space in Greenwich, made a splash in lidos, sheltered from birds and spirits in beautiful parks, entered magical worlds in cemeteries, and studied the powers of the human mind beneath awe-inspiring buildings. There were far too many highlights to mention them all so we’ve included just a few to refresh your memories:
The Royal Parks Season
The Nomad was fortunate enough to develop a brilliant relationship with The Royal Parks which are some of the most undeniably beautiful places in the UK. Sites included Hyde Park Lido, Bushy Park and Greenwich Royal Observatory; wondrous settings for screenings of a wide range of films varying from Fargo to Wall-E via Spirited Away and 2001: A Space Odyssey. However the Royal Parks icing on our Nomad cake was definitely a mystical showing of Pan’s Labyrinth at Brompton Cemetery. Nomads were honoured to be the first people ever to be granted access to the cemetery after dark… Spooky. Come rain or shine, crowds flocked to our screenings in these parks.
Opera Holland Park
A partnership with the team at Holland Park led to a lovely long weekend in a venue perfect for screenings of classic films such as Cinema Paradiso and Some Like It Hot. People came from all over to attend these popular events and guests were treated to an appearance by one of our ever popular photo booths accompanied by wonderful musical acts which created a great atmosphere for a perfect weekend of films.
Regent’s Park
The response to our screening of Romeo + Juliet in Regent’s Park was astounding! Over a thousand people bought tickets to enjoy not only the film but also performances from a brilliant gospel choir and a surprise appearance from award-winning Omar. Everyone got in to the spirit of the star-cross’d lovers with the romantic music and a brilliant themed photo shoot with Photobooth: Out of Order.
Leeds Castle
The stunning castle created a magnificent backdrop to our event. The screening of Some Like It Hot was attended by hundreds of film fans who came well prepared with their picnics and benches (!!). A few of our guests even went one step further and stayed in the castle overnight to complete a magical evening of outdoor cinema.
A Camel’s for life, not just for Christmas
There was a chill in the air by October and sadly the cinematic fun in the sun had to come to end. The Nomads were not afraid of a challenge and decided that the wintery weather was ideal for curling up with good company and great films so we took our magical film adventures indoors for a while.
With the newfound joy of being an indoor cinema, we found novel ways to create the magic required for each screening; entire walls covered in memorable film quotes, rare film posters displayed in a special gallery, projections of trailers from days gone by, a bar with bespoke cocktails themed for each film, and an array of seating options including directors chairs, bean bags and swinging benches.
Word quickly spread about The Nomad’s latest venture and everyone wanted to get involved. We hosted a sold out exclusive evening with Charlie Brooker and his preview of Black Mirror, Film 2011’s Danny Leigh attended one of our popular family matinees to introduce E.T. and we decided to tickle the public’s funny bone with a special one-off live comedy event with sketches from The Real MacGuffins. Finally, a trio of festive films (attended by Santa’s little elves no less!) rounded off a wonderful year of highs and more highs for The Nomad.
We cannot wait to do it all again with you in 2012!