Scala!!!

Scala!!! Or, the Incredibly Strange Rise and Fall of the World’s Wildest Cinema and How It Influenced a Mixed-up Generation of Weirdos and Misfits

In Britain’s post-punk Thatcher years, the infamous and legendary Scala cinema showed a diverse range of films, from high art to cult classics, sexploitation, horror, Kung-Fu and LGBT+. Nudging boundaries of convention, it became an inspiration for future famous creatives.

With interviews from nearly 50 contributors, previously unseen archive footage and film clips, this is an anarchic, uproarious documentary telling the riotous inside story, with an original soundtrack by celebrated musician Barry Adamson. Transcending nostalgia, Scala!!! is a universal testament to the power of cinemas, providing refuge and community for outsiders. A place where everyone is welcome.

“As a piece of London social history, Scala!!! is winningly leftfield and its spirit is wildly infectious. But you could watch it without having been within a thousand miles of this once-seedy corner of King’s Cross and still get a kick out of it.” ~Phil de Semlyen, Time Out

“A very entertaining madeleine for movie-going of the analogue age.” ~Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian