The Depot in Lewes has been nominated for a prestigious industry award, Cinema of the Year (Company 24 screens or under) at the Screen Awards 2018. Screen International, a film magazine covering the international film business, presents the Screen Awards, to recognise excellence in UK film distribution, exhibition, marketing, publicity and brand partnerships. Celebrating much more than box office results, the Screen Awards acknowledge the wide array of studios, companies, teams and individuals that contribute to the success of the British film industry.
The Depot is a new three-screen community cinema, designed by Burrell Foley Fischer, on the site of the modest but much loved existing warehouse of the old Harveys brewery depot in Lewes. The three screens have been discreetly inserted within the saved brick shell, with the major design move being to attach a new glazed extension with the depot structure fully visible as the historic backdrop to the new box office, café bar, restaurant and film education and training facilities. Reflecting the historic site layout of orchards and meadows, the former tarmacked service yard is landscaped to provide a new public realm.
Since opening last year the cinema has proved to be an outstanding success and has already become an important part of the cultural and leisure mix in the town and recognised as a catalyst to regeneration. Writing about Lewes in the Guardian, Tom Dyckhoff said "Hang out at… Depot, a new community cinema with space to eat, work, meet, chat." The venue hosts a packed programme of events and their recent Thrift Fashion Show was featured on ITV news.
The Screen Awards will be presented at a ceremony in London on 29 November.