The Scala started life on London’s Tottenham Road as a cinema club in 1978. Before later moving on to grander premises in Kings Cross in 1981 under the management of Stephen Woolley. In an era when multiplexes were starting to expand and ultimately snuff out many smaller cinemas, the Scala was a weird and wonderful anomaly. Until the wild ride came to an end in 1993.

Those who were part of the Scala during its heyday, complete with terrifying toilets, resident cats, sex scenes on and off screen and the occasional death, will no doubt enjoy Scala!!!

By operating as a members-only club, the Scala was able to get away with screening an astounding range of films that you probably weren’t going to experience at the local Odeon. Debuting (and closing) with the original 1933 King Kong, from 1978 until 1993, the Scala was a hard-seated, graffitied, tube train-rattled haven for the likes of Salo: The Last Days of Sodom, anything made by John Waters, (sometimes literally) eye-popping horror and films you probably wouldn’t watch with anyone of a nervous or prudish disposition.

Directed by Jane Giles and Ali Catterall, Scala!!! chronicles 15 years of a cinema that was as much about the “weirdos and misfits” who frequented it and the challengingly magnificent building as it was about the films.

Known for all-night screenings of back-to-back movies, it was not just a place for film fans to indulge themselves. It was a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community in an era of oppression thanks to Section 28 and the stigma of the AIDS tragedy.

A place of warmth on cold, brutal nights in pre-gentrified Kings Cross. And an alternative to expensive London hotel rooms for bands from out of town, such as The Jesus and Mary Chain.

Those who were part of the Scala during its heyday, complete with terrifying toilets, resident cats, sex scenes on and off screen and the occasional death, will no doubt enjoy Scala!!! for the genuinely heartwarming, riotous romp down memory lane that it is. For those who were not part of that scene, usually for reasons of age or distance, there is still so much to love about this film.

The Scala’s politics and activism is an important part of the documentary

For me, the last days of the Scala coincided with my early 20s, which were spent in Sydney. So I’ll never know if I would have hallucinated my way through an all-nighter or thrilled to the spectacle of Divine eating dog poo in Pink Flamingos. But as someone who spent a lot of time in the UK as a child and, with a history teacher father in a house where the news always seemed to be on, I was acutely aware of Thatcherism and have fond childhood memories of catching the tube with punks in the ‘80s, which made Scala!!! resonate with me as a catalyst for my own memories.

The Scala’s politics and activism is an important part of the documentary and a timely reminder of how awful things were for the LGBTQ+ community then – and how, despite changes such as marriage equality, discrimination has not been eliminated. The recollections of Vic Roberts, a proudly queer usher at the Scala, and Jim MacSweeney, manager of Gay’s The Word bookshop, are profoundly moving.

When Roberts talks about how the Scala allowed everyone to be whoever they are and MacSweeney recalls the cinema holding a benefit for his bookshop after a ridiculous police raid threatened its future, the documentary instantly becomes part of the wider narrative of London’s LGBTQ+ history.

Watching Scala!!! made me wish I had moved permanently to London a bit sooner than 2011. But equally it was a joy and an honour to hear the stories of the people who made the cinema the unique place it so clearly was.

Paul Burston, author and participant in the documentary, told me the Scala was “many things – a cinema, a party venue, a community hub and what we’d now call a safe space.” Recalling his experiences as a young, gay man, he says the 1980s were “a hostile time for minority groups and the Scala provided refuge.”

He says the cinema’s lasting legacy was the strong sense of community it created. “All sorts of outsiders felt equally at home there – it was intersectional before it became fashionable.”

Directors Jane Giles and Ali Caterall at the screening

The Scala cinema club closed its doors amid financial pressures exacerbated by a court case involving the screening of Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange. It was a heartbreaking time for the community it created in a part of London that was seedy and often dangerous… but not without its dark charms.

For anyone who wants to try and experience a taste of what it was like to be a Scala cinema club member, Burston recommends a small cinema in Hastings called The Electric Palace where “the programming is eclectic and the seats are uncomfortable.”

“I attended a friend’s 50th birthday party there with a screening of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Several guests said it felt like being back at the Scala, albeit on a smaller scale,” says Burston.

In the meantime, check out Scala!!! for yourself. It is being released at cinemas across the country. And, on 22 January, it will be released on Blu-Ray and available on the BFI Player.

Georgia Lewis

In a career that has spanned Australia, the Middle East and the UK, Georgia has written about all sorts of things, including sex, cars, food, oil and gas, insurance, fashion, travel, workplace safety, health, religious affairs, glass and glazing… When she’s not writing words for fun and profit, she can usually be found with a glass of something French and red in her hand.

The post Scala!!! A nostalgia trip, even if you weren’t there appeared first on Silver Magazine.

Ideally, parents want to love and support their kids more than anything. When your child comes out as transgender, it can be hard to know how best to do this.

As someone who is transgender, and also has parents, there are a million things I wish I could tell them. But it can often be hard to bridge the gap and start these conversations. The same is true for parents – it’s hard to know how to talk to your child about their transition, or how best to help. But without these conversations, you may lose that sense of closeness and understanding that makes all this stuff ok.

Whether you don’t know where to start, or think you understand their transition completely… here’s a few things your transgender child may want you to know.

You’re not losing your child

Finding out your child is transgender can come as a complete shock to some. One minute you were picking up your little girl from school, and now they aren’t a girl at all. Maybe you didn’t see any signs, maybe you had built an image of their future in your head. Maybe you aren’t ready for all the changes that could follow that initial coming out.

But you aren’t losing that child you knew.

They may not be the gender you once knew them as, but that’s all there is to it. They still love all the same things, have the same laugh, and the same silly habits you know and love. None of the important stuff has changed, they’re just growing into who they always were.

The medical side isn’t everything

One of the big things that infuriated me when I came out was immediately being asked about the medical stuff. Did I want to take testosterone? Did I want top surgery? Bottom surgery? Puberty blockers? To use the men’s toilets?? (OK – that last one wasn’t medical, but still annoying!)

My personal answer to all of those questions is, “Who cares?” If your child wants to take hormones, they’ll tell you. If they want bottom surgery, they’ll say, “I want to have bottom surgery.” But especially in the initial coming out, suddenly getting bombarded with these kinds of questions can feel invasive.

And none of that is the first step. You’ve taken the cart a mile away and left the horse in the stables. Maybe all those things are what your child wants eventually, but usually things like new clothes or, you know, how to refer to them come first. It’s great to be open to discussing the medical side – just be careful that you don’t skip the first conversation for one that may be months or even years down the line.

Stop with all the warnings!

We all have to live with the unfortunate truth that transgender people are going to experience some kind of bigotry in their life. But trust me when I say that we, as the people actually transitioning, are very aware of this already.

You don’t need to remind your trans kid of horrific hate crimes seen on the news, or suicide rates, or generally shitty stigmas. We know. We aren’t thrilled about it either.

But transitioning is a necessity. It’s something we need to do, to truly know and love the person we are. To feel comfortable in the world and in our own skin. We don’t need warnings. We don’t need to be reminded of the dangers. We need your support, especially if any of these awful things do come to pass.

Listen to us

A lot of what we want to tell our parents boils down to just listening. When your child tells you they’re transgender, listen to what they want from you. Don’t bombard them with medical questions, or the dangers they may face, or your own fears of losing your child…

Just listen.

Find out what they’d like you to do. Ask what they want their first steps to be and how you can help, and figure out where to go from there together. Your child needs to be the leader on this one, but you can be by their side to support them.

And remember, everyone’s transition looks different. You may have experience with a transgender friend, for example, but your child is not that friend. As with anything, different people have different wants and needs. Go into your child’s transition without assumptions or preconceived ideas of what being transgender means, and let them decide how their life will look.

Being transgender is a wonderful thing

For a lot of trans people, transitioning is amazing. We can finally look like ourselves, sound like ourselves, feel like ourselves… it’s liberating. It’s a time of blossoming into a happier, more confident self.

And as our parents, all we ask if that you’re by our side through it. You don’t need to understand everything at once, just stick by us and listen. Lending an ear and keeping an open mind is really the best thing you can do.

We need parents who are willing to listen, and learn. Parents who will stand by us. Parents who love us no matter what.

Aiden Winn

Aiden is an editorial and production staffer at Title Media. He’s constantly looking for opportunities to have fun and get creative, whether it be art, baking, storytelling… you name it!

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