In a world where the identikit multiplex is king, its refreshing to see someone like Tom Lawes flying the flag for the independent cinema. The 33-year-old filmmaker/audio engineer from Kings Heath has now added owner of The Electric to his job titles, the 1909 picture palace given a new lease of life and much-needed £250,000 makeover, reopening last December, with most of the building restored to its Art Deco glory.
 Throughout its 95-year life, The Electric, Britains oldest cinema, has had a fascinating history. The cinema was virtually rebuilt in 1936 under architect Cecil Fillmore, renamed the Tatler News Theatre, the 399-seater venue showing newsreels and cartoons in this incarnation for some 30-plus years. A temporary morgue during World War II (technically an overflow for the bodies stored next door), in 1970 the Tatler became the Jacey Film Theatre, before being taken over 10 years later by the Classic cinema group - nicknamed the butchers by cinephiles for their apparent disregard for history and heritage - who turned it into a two-screen venue and removed or covered up many of the buildings beautiful original features.
 Most recently the Tivoli - which showed a mixture of horror films and soft porn - it reverted to the name The Electric in 1993, showing a programme of arthouse and mainstream features. One legacy from its days as the Tivoli still remains, however - an almost complete collection of films by local soft porn producer Barry Jacobs, who was forced to leave the reels behind in the cinemas basement after a money dispute with the then owner. Lawes already has plans to put on a Jacobs retrospective including the 1975 film Eskimo Nell, directed by Goldeneye director Martin Campbell and starring All Creatures Great and Small and Doctors star Christopher Timothy. Amazingly for somewhere with such an interesting heritage, The Electrics bricks and mortar are not listed - making the prime spot ripe for developers. Happily its existence as a cinema has been assured by Lawes and his team of tireless helpers (Im working 16-hour days at the moment, Tom reveals), who in a matter of months have transformed The Electric, totally refurbishing the downstairs Screen 1 into a crimson film buff heaven complete with leather sofas and waiter service, turning Screen 2 into a state of the art post-production sound studio, the largest of its kind outside London, aimed to rival the likes of Pinewood. The venue is fully licensed, with the film programme already supplemented by two burlesque shows in early March; monthly jazz nights are also at the planning stage, while reformed rockers Pop Will Eat Itself used The Electrics stage to rehearse for their recent UK tour. The plan is for Tom to operate the production suite in the daytime, the cinema opening evenings, the former helping to ensure the latters future. I made my first film at 19, so Ive obviously got a passion for film, says Tom, whose recent work includes sound editing short films for BBC Four and Channel 4. Ive stayed in Birmingham because I like the place and I like the people; I think this cinema is a huge asset for the city, and it would have been tragic to have seen it turned into flats or another lap dancing club that we dont really need. So say all of us. For more information on The Electric and its film programme, go to www.theelectric.co.uk or call 0121 643 7879. | 
