Leeds Roller Dolls hit the Cinema yesterday for a little Derby promotion! Leeds Young People’s Film Festival kindly invited us to the Hyde Park Picture House to the preview screening of WHIP IT (out on general release today!) the Drew Barrymore directed Roller Derby Film we have all been waiting for.
Headed by the ever fabulous Chernobelle, I went along with Bob’nWeave for some flyering action and to spread the word of Roller Derby to the youth (and their parents) of Leeds. Dot Rotten was there to assist Chernobelle in the presentation, Vandal Liza, Lava Croft, Gorgon Roller, Doll Ce vita made up the rest of the LRD official representation for the evening. We had some other dolls out in force to – notably Scarlet Go Faster, on crutches, but finally potless!!
The Hyde Park Picture House is a beautiful, traditional cinema, and I would recommend checking it out; the staff are lovely and the whole experience is top notch. The carpets in particular are beautifully plush, not exactly ideal for skating as you can imagine, so we were glad to get there early and practice our entrance skate in the auditorium (while risky to skate down the carpet was quite fun to walk/run up!)
Vandal, Lava, Gorgon, Doll Ce and Bob made a great start on the flyering at the door and most people seemed delighted that there was a local Roller Derby team, and we spotted a few potential derby girls there who we hope will get in touch.
When everyone was seated Chernobelle and Dot did a great introduction to the film and LRD, finishing up by setting the audience a little competition to win a Leeds Roller Doll goody bag “What is the name of the position of the Roller Derby Girl with the star on her helmet?”; and invited the audience to stay after the screening for the revealing of the winner and a Q and A session.
We waddled off to our seats and settled in to watch the film. WHIP IT is a great little rom com with some pretty funny lines. I (and the other Dolls) of course would have loved a bit more Derby, but really when the real deal is so much better and we are getting more and more, I’m not going to complain…..oh and just so you know that is not an official review.
We were thrilled with the number of people that entered the competition and stayed for the Q and A session. The winner was great and we’ll be looking forward to hearing him cheer at Viva Bash Vegas on the 24th April. Questions came readily and were ably answered by Chernobelle and Vandal. The first question being a classic “Do you get pushed out of the track as much as they do in the film?”; the answer of course being a big YES (but no fists!).
All in all it was a great evening and it was fab to be joined at the end by Rushin’ Doll, Matt the Knife and Rigor Morris…straight from practice (yes we did have to sadly miss a practice). Thank you so much to the Festival organizers for inviting us and to the Hyde Park Picture House. We hope to see some of you film goers at our next bout – Viva Bash Vegas on the 24th April - and the many others to follow.
Roxy Carolla #0405
LRD
Sounds like a very successful night Roxy – well done all promoting the team
Great review of the night, sounds like it went well!
I am interested to hear what peeps think of the film.
Will have to go and take a look anyway as it’s Juno on skates!