Counting down until the opening of Walthamstow's new cinema complex, a group of 'Hitchcock blondes' opened the show at a screening of Vertigo in a Leytonstone church

Marking the end of a decade-long absence of a cinema in the birthplace of Sir Alfred Hitchcock, St Margaret’s Church in Woodhouse Road, Leytonstone, was transformed into a movie theatre to launch a series of screenings.

The year-long event, Hitchcock’s East End, is counting down to the new cinema complex in central Walthamstow and explores Britain’s most famous filmmaker’s connection to Waltham Forest.

Hitchcock used blondes as leading ladies in many of his films, including Grace Kelly in Dial M for Murder and Rear Window, and Ingrid Bergman in Notorious and Spellbound.

Future screenings will take place at an Edwardian school, Vestry House Museum and Walthamstow Marshes.

The event is put together by Create London, the Barbican, The Nomad Cinema and Waltham Forest Council.

Hadrian Garrard, Director of Create London, said: “It’s hard to believe that there hasn’t been a cinema for over 10 years in the birthplace borough of one of this country’s leading film directors.

“We thought the opening of the new cinema in 2014 was something worth celebrating.”