Video: Dirty Dancing and Pulp Fiction at Dungannon drive-in cinema

Across the three evenings, movie fans will be treated to a trio of classics.

On Friday 26th, Patrick Swayze whisks Jennifer Grey off her feet in 1987’s romantic coming -of-age drama ‘Dirty Dancing’. Saturday sees Mikey, Mouth, Data, Brand and Chunk search for pirate’s gold in the 1985 adventure comedy ‘The Goonies’.

Capping off the weekend on Sunday is the screening of Quentin Tarantino’s stylish ‘Pulp Fiction’, the 1994 cult black comedy that explores the seedy world of Los Angeles mobsters, small-time criminals and crooks.

Dungannon Film Club (DFC) is a not-for-profit voluntary community organisation, formed by Christopher Begley and his wife Roisin. Crowned Film Society of the Year at the ‘Cinema For All’ awards in Sheffield in September 2014, they continue to be praised in particular for their novel and inventive marketing. Their events are not merely movie screenings, but celebrations of film, with comedians, designed sets, dressing-up, live music, and complimentary food and drink all adding to the experience of their nights.

“Once a month we always have a special event. For example, coming up we’re screening ‘The Sound of Music’ as an Austrian themed night, complete with authentic lederhosen costume, and German and Austrian food and beer.” says DFC founder Begley.

“We ran a drive-in event for the first time last year with Back To The Future, and it was a great success. At the end everyone was tooting their car horns. Feedback was great, and everyone kept asking when we were going to do the next one.”

The drive-in theatre originated in the USA in 1932, and rose to popularity in the 50s and 60s particularly with families and dating teenagers. The industry has seen a cult revival in the past decade, and DFC have pulled out all the stops to set up a captivating cinema spectacle here in Tyrone.

“It’s a huge screen, so big we have to bring a trailer down. Its projected onto that from a Smart car.

“A team from IV Cinema Banbridge come down and set up the screen. The sound is tuned to an FM band on the car radio, and it works perfectly. This is expensive to host but we don’t do it to make money, rather to give people a unique film experience.”