By Adam Ray Palmer I’m in two minds here, whether the last five years have flown by or whether they have gone really slow and it feels like a decade. Either way, it’s been a blast. I wanted to take five minutes to just acknowledge this personal milestone with Cineroom and how from the 1st June, we have been alive and well for 1,825 days. I want to share with you all some little titbits of the Cineroom journey… When sitting down to first write this feature, I had to think of all the highlights in the past five years. There have been of course some low ones, but my god have we (and yes, I mean the readers too) pushed Cineroom to surprising heights. I want to share five big moments in the history of Cineroom with you now to celebrate us being five years old. Highlight #1: ATTENDING VENICE, BERLIN & LONDON FILM FESTIVALS This was a big one, and by far a career and life highlight. The first ever film festival I attended as Press was the 72nd Venice Film Festival. I remember doing my application and really trying hard to secure a spot. I waited for nearly 10 weeks and then I got the all-important email in my mailbox. From here, I have attended the Venice Fest five times and the London/Berlin versions three times. Every single visit has been amazing; watching premieres of films and meeting talent for interviews. Johnny Depp, Alexander Skarsgård, Michael Winterbottom, Margot Robbie and many other interviews have been secured from festival visits. My favourite memory is sitting in a Venetian cinema, waiting for the film Everest to begin, knowing I have finally conquered something by sitting there as a press member. Highlight #2: INVITED TO KVIFF 2019 This was another great highlight of mine, in what would turn out to be the best year for Cineroom (2019). After meeting a Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic) Film Festival representative at the Berlin Film Festival the year before, he wished for me to attend the KVIFF 2019 festival. After months go by, a couple of months before the July 2019 fest began, I was officially invited to be a press guest at KVIFF2019 for six days at no cost. This was truly amazing to me, and I caught some incredible films over there. Two of the big ones, Spider-Man: Far From Home and The Dead Don’t Die, both were great experiences to share with my partner so she can see what goes into festival premieres. This of course was a highlight and an honour for Cineroom. Highlight #3: AWARD WINS AND NOMINATIONS Back in 2017, Cineroom won the first award from a first nomination. The UK Blog Awards awarded Cineroom in the Arts & Culture category when there was a lot of tough opposition too. The evening in London that April was amazing, nearly as great as the goodie bag you received! I don’t do Cineroom for awards, but when recognition comes, it is a brilliant moment. Flash-forward to 2020, and we are currently nominated for CV Magazine’s Media Innovator of the Year Award. Again, this is another privilege and hopefully when the world gets back to normal, the awards season can resume and I hope the outcome is another win. Awards are another highlight of mine, solely because the acclaim is massive boost to keep going. It’s not the only reason to continue, but they give you that pick up you sometimes need. Highlight #4: AFTER LIFE REVIEW DOES BITS What a highlight this is for me. I think getting praise from one of the best and most famous comedians ever would be awesome for anyone, but add to the fact that he is one of my heroes, it becomes an honour too. Gervais has always in the past been a secret supporter of Cineroom (I like to think so!), interacting and sharing content many times before – even sending me signed The Office merch. And so when After Life Season 2 debuted, I did a review. I wanted to make sure I did something in my critique that would get his attention, and that would end up to be the “c**t count” on each episode. He ended up sharing my review natively, he retweeted mine a lot and also commented. He even said it was one his favourite reviews which is incredible. From his 6 retweets, it generated 2.6 million impressions in two weeks. An incredible feat and something I will always be appreciative for. You can read the review here. Highlight #5: JOKER FILM CAMPAIGN GLORY As good as my previous highlight is, as owning an entertainment website goes, the pinnacle of writing about film is to get your words and rating into a global marketing campaign. In September 2019, I was attending the Venice Film Festival and got to see Joker for the very first time anywhere in the world. Straight after the film ended, the media was a frenzy. It was an incredible film and the press wanted to get scoops. So, I penned my review that early afternoon and published it that night to get it whipped up in the hullabaloo. Weeks passed, and I was back at home in my lounge when a friend text me with “I don’t believe it, Cineroom has been on my TV”. After checking, during the Great British Bake Off, a 10-second TV spot played for Joker and Cineroom’s 5-star review was planted right in the middle – I was ecstatic. What followed was a trailer on YouTube, posters around cinemas and websites all over the world; all had Cineroom plastered on them. Then, when I think it couldn’t get any better, Cineroom was put on billboards around the globe. From Manchester to Los Angeles, Cineroom was literally up in lights. This was the moment when I knew that if Cineroom ever ceased, I had had the ‘glory’ I wanted. This is what I set out to do in 2015 and now it has happened. Cineroom on the marketing campaign for an OSCAR-WINNING film – what a pleasure. But now, what’s next? Who the hell knows! On a final note, a big thank you everyone along the Cineroom journey thus far. All the likes, comments and shares of content – they go a long way. Here’s to the next five!
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31/5/2020
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