Staff and trustees at a local cinema have organised a weekend of talks, tours, raffles, screenings and specially programmed events with the goal of raising much-needed funds.

The #PhoenixRising fundraising campaign aims to raise £20,000 for the Phoenix Cinema in East Finchley.

First is the film quiz on Friday, March 15, at 8.30pm. If you can tell your Fillinis from your film noirs and your Bogarts from your boggarts, then this is the quiz for you. Test your cinephile credentials and help raise money to keep the historic cinema independent. Tickets are £12 per player, including a free glass of wine or juice, and there is a maximum of four people per team.

This weekend, take part in the special Phoenix Tours which will reveal the secrets behind how the cinema works. This is your chance to see inside the historic projection room and explore behind the scenes. Tours take place on Saturday, March 16, at 1pm, and Sunday, March 17, at 11am.

There’s also something for the kids on Saturday, March 16, with a screening of the Disney classic Big Hero 6, a tale of love, loss, friendship and adventure in the futuristic city of San Fransokyo. As with all of the cinema’s Kids Club events, there will be an arts and crafts activity starting at 10am prior to the screening, which begins at 11am.

Saturday evening is your chance to put questions to director Mat Whitecross, who will be joining the Phoenix for a special Q&A in support of the cinema’s fundraising weekend. Interviewing him will be author and former editor of Empire Magazine, Mark Salisbury. A long-term Coldplay collaborator, Mat blends spectacular live performances with exclusive band interviews and a huge array of previously-unseen archive footage to produce A Head Full Of Dreams, the definitive story of one of the world’s biggest bands.

On Sunday, March 17, at 12pm, historian, author and Phoenix expert Gerry Turvey will be giving an illustrated talk on the cinema’s rich film heritage.

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The closing event on Sunday, March 17, at 8pm, is a Q&A with Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton. Reece and Steve have been writing and performing together for many years. Their award-winning series “Inside No. 9” has brought a fresh, funny and delightfully uncanny flavour to audiences across the nation since it first aired in 2014. In conversation with BBC broadcaster and presenter Dr Matthew Sweet, Reece and Steve will screen episodes of their work and reflect upon how their ideas have developed and transformed over time.

For more information and to book visit phoenixcinema.co.uk or email phoenixvolunteers2018@gmail.com