Cellb itself houses the first cinema in Blaenau Ffestiniog since the 1950's the auditorium is also a performance space and a youth training location within the arts. Many of the original features from the Old Police stations are intact you can see the original cell's from the auditorium.
It is situated at picturesque Park Square region of the Blaenau Ffestiniog which lies in the centre although not included of Snowdonia National Park and is one of Gwynedd's most industrial and picturesque yet poorest areas.
The cinema at Cellb is run by Gwallgofiaid a not for profit social enterprise that has been providing creative training for the young people of Blaenau Ffestiniog and the county of Gwynedd since 2003. In 2009 the company worked alongside Ysgol Molewyn pupils to create a monthly cinema night for youths up stairs in Cellb's old court room. Picz was a cinema for the youths by the youths and they ran all aspects of cinema night. On the back of the success of these nights the Art Council & Magnox and a company bank investment funded Blaenau Ffestiniog’s first cinema in 40 years. The facility is an independent cinema, venue and community training space. The cinema offers film screenings, live performances, pensioners screenings, dementia friendly screenings and works with young programmers. The venue is also available for private hire for community events, children’s parties and educational and professional film making activities. It has always been the companies goal to be set sufficient within 3 years and use the profits from the cinema to fund youth media workshops.
In the winter of 2017 the beast from the East brought a sever cold spell to the mountains of Ffestiniog which caused a burst in the cinema heating system behind the cinema screen which went undetected. Over time the leak infected the original 1900’s wood works and created dry rot in the cinema space. The insurance company claim was rejected as actually dry rot was not covered peril under this policy!!! We have battled forth and from with the insures for over a year and they have now withdrawn and totally rejected all claims and will not pay out any monies.
For the past year we have kept at it showing films for the community but due to the recent insurance withdrawal financially this has now placed the company in a precarious position. With current losses during the closure and monies owed out to pay the cinema works and distributors of £10,000 we can not afford to show more films and with out films we have lost the main aspect of our income generation. The charity has been forced into the position where we are requesting the help of our friends, patrons and all those who have a love of the venue and all it represents to help us secure its future. If you can pledge anything at all, from the price of a child ticket (£6) to the most generous of donations for which we would be eternally grateful. We appreciate all donations given and look forward to moving this project to its next stage.