“Make Your Own Cinema”: Scalarama Leeds on the Joy of DIY Film – Interview

Leeds Scalarama DIY Film Festival Fundraiser 2026. Image credit: Amelia Turner.

It is that time of year again when Scalarama DIY Film Festival launched their programme for the year with a fundraiser and film screening. At the heart of Scalarama Leeds is a deceptively simple idea: anyone can create their own cinema. Film programmer Mosa Mpetha spoke with TSOTA about their philosophy of DIY film culture. 

Mosa explains that at Scalarama “you don’t need to wait for your local cinema or film festival to show the films that you want to see: you can make your own cinemas and choose your own programmes.” For Scalarama, that means almost anywhere. “Any space can be turned into a cinema,” Mosa continues, “record stores, climbing centres, restaurants, etc.” 

That ethos was brought to life on the evening of 5th March, when Scalarama transformed the Holbeck Working Men’s Club into a makeshift cinema and community gathering for their annual fundraiser. The night showcased all the hallmarks of the collective at its best: a bake sale, a raffle and a screening of ‘Goodnight Brooklyn‘, a documentary about an independent venue in New York forced to close which drew clear parallels with Scalarama’s own values. It was, as Mosa says, “a unanimous decision within the team — a really appropriate film with regards to local venues and DIY culture.”

When speaking of her personal journey into the world of DIY cinema, Mosa’s began almost by accident. With a background in events management, she had spent years facilitating other people’s ideas rather than her own. That all changed when she was invited to screen a film in the back room of the Reliance restaurant in Leeds. “By seeing how easy it was to plan your own event, show people a film that you absolutely love and have interesting conversations afterwards, I was hooked,” she says. She went on to form her own film club before joining the Scalarama team.

Leeds Scalarama DIY Film Festival Fundraiser 2026. Image credit: Amelia Turner.

What makes Scalarama particularly unusual is the way it runs its festival. Rather than a central programming team deciding what gets shown, they take a deliberately hands-off approach. Instead, every film choice belongs entirely to the individual programmer. “It’s a decentralised approach to running a film festival,” Mosa explains. “The programming team doesn’t decide the artistic direction, we’re just making sure everybody’s got the tools to do it for themselves.” 

To support aspiring programmers, Scalarama runs free workshops between March and August each year, covering everything from film licensing and finding a venue to marketing and setting up DIY projection. For many participants, these sessions become a launchpad for something bigger. Leeds now has more than fifty active grassroots film clubs, many of which started from people taking their first steps through Scalarama. “There’s room for all of us, basically,” Mosa explains, “we should promote and support each other’s activities.”

This cooperative spirit extends beyond grassroots organisers to the wider film ecosystem in Leeds. Established venues and institutions such as Cottage Road Cinema, Hyde Park Picture House and Leeds International Film Festival all form part of the same broader community, and Scalarama’s network often intersects with these spaces. Each September, a day-long Leeds Cinema Crawl takes audiences across the city, from Cottage Road to Hyde Park Picture House, onto a Scalarama venue and ending at Howard Assembly Room. With different organisations constantly collaborating to create a thriving film culture in Leeds, the whole sector, both DIY and institutional, is always connected.

Leeds Scalarama DIY Film Festival Fundraiser 2026. Image credit: Amelia Turner.

One of Scalarama’s most significant initiatives is the New Programmer Scheme, which offers two individuals or collectives a supported opportunity to organise their very first screening. The scheme covers venue costs, licensing fees and provides a small gesture payment, giving newcomers a little more security as they step in front of a crowd for the first time. For Mosa, watching new organisers develop is one of the most rewarding parts of her work. “I get the most gratification from watching people go from not thinking they can do it to absolutely smashing it,” she says. 

Scalarama events rarely stop at simply screening a film. Many programmers turn their evenings into full-blown experiences, incorporating live performances, drag acts, quizzes and themed activities that sit alongside the film itself. One particularly memorable example saw a programme of horror shorts screened in an abandoned basement on Friday the 13th of September. For Mosa, this blend of creativity and community is exactly the point. “We really need that right now,” she says. “We need to be together in communities and in spaces, having conversations and fun.”

Back at the Holbeck fundraiser, that idea feels tangible. Conversations continue long after the film ends, with attendees discussing their own ideas for screenings and sharing their thoughts on the idea of collaborative creative spaces. It is a small but vivid snapshot of what Scalarama represents: a film culture built not from the top down, but from people who simply love cinema enough to share it. “Championing each other, collaborating and working together,” as Mosa puts it, “both in the audience and organising.”

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For anyone curious about getting involved, Scalarama Leeds offers plenty of ways to take part. You can find a step-by-step guide to organising your own DIY screening on the Scalarama Leeds website, where you can also sign up to the newsletter and follow their socials to stay up to date on upcoming meetings and events. 

If you’ve never put on a screening before but have always wanted to, the New Programmer Scheme is now open for applications until Sunday 5 April 2026. 

If you just want to watch, a full listing of DIY film clubs in Leeds is available on the Scalarama website too.