A COMMUNITY cinema in Essex has received a top national award.

Dedham Films, which launched last year, won the Filmbank Audience gong at the Film Society of the Year Awards 2011 in London last Saturday.

The cinema also picked up a distinction in the Best New Society category.

More than a hundred delegates from film societies across the UK gathered at the Institut Francais on September 17 and 18 for the British Federation of Film Societies’ National Conference for Community Cinemas and the awards ceremony.

Dedham Films chairman, Jacqui Freeman said: “This double recognition of Dedham Films just a year after being set up is fantastic and a real boost for the committee, which has worked so hard to make our first year such a resounding success.

“But, of course, we also owe this success and a huge vote of thanks to our amazing audience, who voted for us. Whatever the weather, a large number of local residents come to the Assembly Rooms in Dedham to see a wide variety of films, funny and sad, classic and contemporary.”

Films are screened in Dedham Assembly Rooms on the third Wednesday of every month and entry is �3.50

To find out more, visit www.dedhamfilms.co.uk or e-mail dedhamfilms@btinternet.com.