Regular Convention attendee Brian Saberton reports on the 45th Blackpool Film Collectors’ Convention. Pictures: John Armer, Eivind Mork & Peter Travers
One of the highlights of the year is the Blackpool Film Collector’s Convention. This annual event started in 1977, at a time when commercial films were released on Super 8, and it has now grown into a very full weekend held in Blackpool’s Grand Hotel.
The Friday evening film show was a splendid screening of a 16mm print of A Night to Remember. The room was packed to see this classic 1958 movie about the tragic sinking of the Titanic.
On Saturday, James Cecil and Nigel Lister ran a series of Super 8 and 16mm short films during the day, all provided by attendees.
In the evening, at the convention dinner, we enjoyed with an excellent meal, a raffle, a quiz, and a film show presented by Kurt Jensen from Norway. There were some great raffle prizes and we must thank Kurt and friends from Norway for an enjoyable show, which included unique Super 8 camera footage of Frank Zappa and other performers.
On Sunday morning the Film Fair hall opened, where films and equipment could be purchased or sold. It was good to see that this year there was a big increase in the number of dealers and collectors attending for the day.
In a second conference room, a cinema had been set up where we enjoyed excellent flat and ‘scope film shows as well as the annual film auction. Former Derann Film Services director Ged Jones also returned for a fascinating ‘part two’ interview, that followed on from his Q&A at the 2022 convention.
Almost before we knew it, the event was over for another year, but such was its success, the organisers booked the hotel for 2024, on the Monday morning before departure! Adrian Winchester, who arranges the dinner, felt it was particularly encouraging to see some younger participants – in their teens and twenties – who clearly appreciate the unique qualities of film, despite having missed the heyday of 8mm package movies. The convention also continues to draw an impressive number of overseas collectors, with at least 12 coming on this occasion.
Our thanks are due to everyone on the hard-working team of collectors who did a brilliant job in organising this great weekend.
Sadly, a few days afterwards, came the terribly sad news about the sudden passing of Blackpool regular Peter Wilson.
Peter, who was a long-standing member of Edinburgh Cine & Video Society, had been attending the convention since it started, and he had particularly enjoyed the 2023 event. Peter had a phenomenal knowledge of cinema and was a keen collector of films on Super 8 and DVD/Blu-ray. He was always upbeat and cheerful and will be sadly missed by his family and friends.
Brian Saberton
You can read, listen and watch more impressions of the 2023 Convention in our Blackpool 2023 Round Up.
Blackpool Film Collectors' Convention 