Hastings Literary Festival rebrands to Hastings Book Festival
The Hastings Literary Festival was founded 2017 as a celebration of the written word under the strapline of “writing for writers”, but provided events catering both for readers and writers aiming to improve their skills. The first festival took place…
Five Glorious Years of the Bavard Bar!
It’s a fairly unique format. Every month, on the third Wednesday at the Kino-Teatr in St Leonards, three people take to the stage and share their passions for around 15 minutes each. But no-one knows the speakers, or the subjects,…
Riding the Zig-Zag Horse into Town
By Helen Murphy and Nick Pelling What is it that attracts so many creative people to Hastings? Is it the long arc of white sandy beach, the soft impressionist light of Silverhill, or the hanging gardens of Bulverhythe? Maybe not.…
Art Diary
Ivory Tinkling The Hastings International Piano Competition is running at the White Rock Theatre until March 5th. The promoters say that it has quietly become one of the most prestigious piano competitions in the world. So much so that the…
A saga of Norman Road: Kino Teatr loses court battle to Arigato
A claim made by Yuka Yoshii-Viellefon, owner of Japanese restaurant Arigato, for a little under £5,000 owed by the Kino Teatr was upheld last week in Hastings County Court after a four-hour hearing. The claimant had traded within the Kino’s…
Magnificent Madness?
Nick Pelling attends the St Leonards’ premiere of a documentary about the making of a film by the former Monty Python star Terry Gilliam. Have you ever thought that a project you were working on was under some form of…
Punk, Plastic and the Pier
Poly Styrene: I am a Cliché Film review by Martin Dickie A new film about punk icon Poly Styrene opens with a drone shot high above St Leonards before cutting to cinematic glimpses of Hastings’ seafront. Styrene, real name Marianne…
ARTS DIARY
The Kino Teatr in Norman Road St Leonards reopened with a short season of Oscar nominated or winning films including Nomadland. In June there’s a Coffee Concert: A Garden of Songs by Women Composers 1890s-1920s. In July they are screening…
Back to the Bar
By Fiona McGarry It was good to see the return of the Bavard Bar to the Kino on Wednesday – the first live Bavard since lockdown. The event normally involves three volunteers talking for 15 minutes each about a subject…
ED’S PICK
Parasite (Monochrome Edition)Friday 14th August, , Kino-Teatr A 2019 South Korean dark comedy thriller directed by Bong Joon-ho, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Han Jin-won. It stars Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-shik and Park So-dam and…