A new club in Sheffield is helping to tackle loneliness by hosting events for women to watch films together and meet new people.
The club, named ‘Film Girls Galore’, was set up in January this year by Tasha Jagger, a freelance film journalist and civil servant.
Working in collaboration with Showroom Cinema in Sheffield, the club has so far hosted two events, with the next screening on 28 April.
Miss Jagger said the response to her initial tweet, asking if people would be interested, was “amazing.”
She said: “Their response took me away. It was such an uplift to have some amazing responses.”
She went on to say that she finds “solace in going to the cinema alone”, however, “sometimes the loneliness can hit quite hard.”
“No one really tells you that finding friends in your 20s is hard and I’ve struggled quite a lot. I wanted a space to get out of my comfort zone and mix my love of films and the art of making friends together.”
Films the club has watched so far include Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Dune Part 2.
Miss Jagger said: “I was super anxious prior to the first event, with many doubts – will people come? But it’s amazing how social media can bring people together too.”
She described the club as a “safe space for all of us to still have our alone time but also be able to talk about these films with others.”
She said Showroom has always been her favourite cinema in Sheffield – “it just feels like home.” She was previously a Showroom Young Programmer, and said she’s built “a lovely relationship with the cinema.”
When she initially tweeted about potentially running the club, Ryan Finnigan (Showroom’s head of cinema and programming) got in touch and offered his support. Miss Jagger said: “The Showroom is an amazing space for such events to occur.”
In the future, she hopes to put on some special screenings and also plans to start a podcast.
Film Girls Galore can be found on Instagram – @filmgirlsgalore.
