Ink@84 bookshop launches kickstarter for film club

North London-based bookshop Ink@84 has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds to run a weekly film club.

Screen84 is the shop’s initiative to provide a community-based Film club in Islington, North London, hosted by the founders of Ink@84 which opened last year.

Screen84 will operate on Friday evenings throughout the year (with breaks over the holidays) to small audiences of up to 40. There will be time for drinks and discussion afterwards. Ticket prices will be kept as low as possible at £5.

Co-owner Betsy Tobin told The Bookseller that the response to the campaign so far has been "brilliant".

"After less than 24 hours we secured nearly a quarter of our total, so we’re optimistic the project will go through", she said. "Today's bookshops need to be destination venues with a wide variety of offerings to attract customers. We launched last December with a retail book business and cafe in place, then added a bar on World Book Day. We’d always planned for a film club, so this is the third phase of our development. We believe there’s a broad crossover between book and film lovers which we hope to tap into via Screen84. And Kickstarter is the perfect vehicle to gauge the level of support in our community up front."

She added: "We are fundraising to cover a range of costs associated with launching the club, including curator's and license fees, equipment upgrades and  technical changes to the shop's layout and electrics."