A CINEMA powered entirely by pedalling – it can't be true, can it?

Ilminster-based documentary company, Purple Field Productions, is now using exactly that technology, and they're showing you how it works tomorrow (Tuesday) at the Ilminster Energy Centre in Ditton Street.

They'll also be screening a selection of short films in the session from 6pm.

PFP works together with people in Africa and Asia to make educational films in local languages –dramas and documentaries that provide much needed information on health, welfare and the environment.

Light, and easy for just two people to carry, PFP's newly-adopted 'backpack cinema' enables field workers to take films to remote rural communities where information is most lacking.

The cinema uses a pedal generator by Pedal4Power and an audio visual system developed by Vaalamp Systems.

One of the most important areas of PFP’s work is in sustainable agriculture – enabling communities to share ideas and techniques for combating climate change.

The films set to be shown at Ilminster Energy Centre are:

  • A 5 minute short made in Malawi, showing how the pedal power cinema enables PFP to take films round the rural areas
  • FANABARRA, You Reap What You Sow (2014 Senegal) A PFP/CRP Simenti Production. This special adaptation of the Malawi film “Trees & Stoves” for use in Senegal illustrates how the same issues of climate change and deforestation are affecting different communities and how the use of film can help those communities to share their experiences and adapt to their circumstances.
  • DUHINDUKANE NʼIBIHE, Change with the Climate (2012 Uganda) A PFP/ARCOS Production. The Albertine Rift is an area of great natural beauty threatened by climate change.