How a Sussex-based community cinema became one of Europe’s most green-friendly arts venues.
This article first appeared in Film Stories issue 50.
A stone’s throw from Lewes station, you’ll find a sleekly designed and welcoming building. Morning sun streams in through the floor to ceiling windows. If you were to take a bird’s eye view, you’d see an expanse of dozens of different kinds of wildflowers that make up the building’s ‘living roof’. Bees and butterflies call that rooftop their home. Soon they’ll have new neighbours who’ll move into the recently constructed bug hotels. In amongst the foliage are a couple of rows of solar panels hungrily absorbing the East Sussex sun.
A cinema is an unusual place to find a menagerie of wildlife. But that’s exactly what Depot, a sustainability- focused cinema, had in mind from its earliest blueprints. It’s achieved something quite remarkable. In less than ten years, the Depot team have transformed a disused and unloved warehouse into an arts venue that’s become a beacon of sustainability for the cinema sector.
Natasha Padbury, Depot’s office and sustainability manager, is tasked with leading all of Depot’s green initiatives. For its first few years, Depot’s sustainability work was mainly volunteer run. However, it was Natasha’s passion for the environment, and her pointing out where changes could be made, that led to her role being created; a role that had a key sustainability focus. “We really needed somebody centrally who was flying the sustainability flag all the time,” says Natasha.
Green shoots
Her interest in the environment started young, accompanying her mum on Greenpeace sponsored walks to raise awareness of whale conservation. And her passion for helping to protect the planet stayed with her as she grew up.
“I became more aware of the scale of climate change when I had small children,” she said. “It really hit home that I wanted to safeguard their future.”
In the four years since Natasha started leading Depot’s sustainability work, the cinema has been nominated for awards, featured in industry reports demonstrating how venues can reduce their carbon footprint, and launched a climate change festival featuring a programme of environmentally focused films.
Learning how to create a sustainable cinema didn’t happen overnight, and Natasha is keen to note that behind all the accolades and attention Depot receives for its climate change work, there’s a team of staff and volunteers tirelessly working out ways they can do more. The small tweaks are just as important as any grand overhauls they’ve done and there’s an incredibly impressive level of detail that this work delves into.
When Natasha explains that every element of the cinema is considered, that’s no exaggeration. Take the building’s exterior, where the roof’s surface is constructed out of locally sourced pebbles. The shutters that hold the floor-to-ceiling windows in place are made out of chestnut from a local supplier. And the bar is stocked with beers and ciders from local breweries, located an hour or so’s drive away.
Green fly
The care of the cinema’s incredible living roof is also led by Natasha. Previously a newbie to the world of wildflowers, she says that looking after the roof is now one of her favourite parts of working at Depot. Keen for as many people as possible to experience the joys of being around a floral oasis on top of a working cinema, Natasha runs tours of the roof, and staff recently took part in hands-on gardening days, building bug hotels designed to attract minor bees. She describes how in the summer especially, the roof teems with bees and butterflies.
“I fell in love with it up there. I learnt what all the different plants were, what they were doing, how they were introduced. It’s really quite amazing to be somewhere that feels so abundant.”
In 2022, Depot won the ‘Green Screen’ accolade at The Big Screen Awards, the national awards scheme for the cinema industry. Natasha describes the recognition as “fantastic” and proof that all the work they’d done over the years was having an impact. The fact that there’s now an award that specifically recognises cinemas and sustainability is in itself a huge step forward.
When Depot opened, there were only a handful of cinemas talking openly about climate action, whereas now there’s much more enthusiasm for green initiatives. Picturehouse cinemas regularly screen films centring on climate change, there’s climate themed speeches at industry events and a whole host of venues have signed up to the UK Green Film Network, a group set up to share ideas for environmental programming.
Cinemas clearly aren’t the worst polluting industry on the planet, but neither have they historically been beacons of sustainability. Most cinemas are huge buildings that need constant energy to run heaters, projectors and lights across multiple screens. The obligatory pre-film popcorn and fizzy drink combo often comes in packaging that’s tricky to recycle and the food within the packaging has likely travelled many miles before it arrives in the foyer.
With this in mind, transforming the way that cinemas approach sustainability is no easy task. They’ve also had their fair share of challenges to contend with, so adopting extensive green initiatives is arguably not high on their agenda. Despite the Barbenheimer-shaped saviour of the silver screen and The Super Mario Bros Movie, Avatar: The Way Of Water and Top Gun: Maverick all smashing the $1 billion mark, UK cinemas are still struggling to reach pre-pandemic audience levels. Couple this with the rising costs of running a venue and the shortage of big releases caused by last year’s Screen Actors Guild (SAG) strikes, and you see that cinemas aren’t out of the post- pandemic woods yet.
Natasha explains that cinemas don’t necessarily need to make expensive changes to how they’re run to see results. It’s tempting to eyeroll at claims that personal actions like switching lights and taps off the instant you stop using them makes any noticeable difference. But making small tweaks to use as little energy as possible really can have a huge impact.
“The first year we started to actively plan and change the efficiency of the building, we made an 18% reduction in our emissions. That’s things like looking at when your projector and your air-con go on and off. Can you minimise how much your lights are on?”
Depot also engages local environmental groups; an initiative that doesn’t cost a lot and helps create a community between the venue and passionate, like-minded organisations. Conservation groups screen films covering the area they campaign on or give talks at environmental film festivals. Local school children are invited to take part in workshops creating wildflower displays. Regenerative farmers introduce documentaries about sustainable farming.
“We have organisations and small voluntary groups everywhere in Lewes and we’re helping to build local resilience by working together,” Natasha says. “We work hard to showcase local initiatives and people really want to come and tell their stories and talk about the work they’re doing.”
Green light
Cinemas are in a great position to engage people on the climate crisis and what we can do about it. As Natasha says: “people aren’t going to sit and read policies but we’re all drawn to interesting stories.”
This is where programming comes in. When we speak, Natasha is working on Depot’s upcoming Climate Action! Festival, which has a Back to Nature theme showcasing a programme of films which explore different areas of environmental action and climate change.
So, which environment-themed films should we be seeking out? Her first recommendation is Six Inches Of Soil, a recent release scheduled for the festival. Focusing on the importance of soil and agriculture, it showcases three regenerative farm schemes across the UK. They’ll also be showing the delightfully named Holy Shit, which takes a look at the world of human excrement, and if we should be using it to create a circular economy.
When Natasha is asked if she can see a future where all cinemas are sustainable, she’s hopeful but pragmatic. It’s a slow progress but she sees signs of positive change within the industry. Something as urgent as the climate crisis makes people collaborate in ways they otherwise might not. “Sustainability transcends competition barriers and differences between cinemas.”
Hopefully, there’ll be bug hotels and wildflower meadows coming soon to a cinema near you.
