Premiere seats

IT is 1989 and teenager Neil Bates smiles as he welcomes people through the doors of The Regent, where he has been volunteering as an usher. Encouraged to help out by his college lecturer, film student Neil is no stranger to the building - a regular visitor himself since he was a child.

Flash forward almost 20 years, and Neil is preparing to welcome people through the doors again - this time, though, his guests will be from Hollywood.

Sitting amid the worn seats of The Regent, in Redcar, it is hard to believe that it will be filled with hundreds of VIP guests tomorrow, including the odd film star. It is not the usual setting for the screening of a major film. But here is a building - and a manager - which have a story of their own, one which is steeped in history, controversy and joy.

As one of the region's oldest cinemas, the experience is quite different to that of the major cinemas dominating towns and retail parks, with their 15 or so screens, spacious reclining seats, drink holders and endless amounts of food offerings. This is how it used to be. A modest, cosy picture house which boasts the atmosphere of the traditional Saturday night out at the movies.

And it was this nostalgic, sentimental draw, with its seaside location, which attracted the filmmakers behind the blockbuster, Atonement. A film set around 1940s Dunkirk, the old-fashioned building was the perfect location.

FOR Neil Bates, once the fresh-faced volunteer who took charge of the reels as an enthusiastic teenager, Wednesday's premiere will be extra special. Neil is now the manager of the independent cinema after saving the building from closure 15 years ago.

Working in The Regent is a childhood dream for the 37-year-old. His involvement with the cinema began at Longlands College, in Middlesbrough, when he met the manager of The Regent, the late Jeff Edwards, who was a member of the Cleveland Cinema Co-operative who ran the cinema for ten years.

"Jeff would frequently bring The Regent up in his lectures for one reason or another, " recalls Neil. "At some point he mentioned they were looking for volunteers to assist with the running of the place.

"I was quite involved with amateur film and it was only for about one night a week. I was ushering and then I moved up to the shop, the box office and spent about one year doing that before I went on to be a projectionist. I wasn't trained or anything, so I just picked it up."

But in 1991, the cinema folded and for ten months stood empty, gradually deteriorating on Redcar's seafront. Determined to bring it back to life, Neil drew up a one-man rescue plan as he worked in the ice cream shop next door.

"A number of people started to ask when it was going to re-open. So I decided to take it on myself. It was still viable, so I assembled a team to re-open The Regent - it seemed like no one else was going to do it."

And with a £5,000 advance of his inheritance, Neil, along with a handful of volunteers calling themselves Cleveland Big Screen Entertainment, the cinema was revived on August 21, 1992.

Almost 900 people visited the cinema in its first week to watch Batman Returns and after the first screening the audience gave a standing ovation to show their support. But it has been a rocky road.

"There have been long periods when accounts went down and down, films where you expected to take money failed abysmally and you knew it would be a stress before the next one, " says Neil.

"I am very proud we have kept The Regent open.

Now Atonement will be seen all over the world, it's being tipped as the Best British Film of the Year and Redcar's got a starring part."

NEIL still can't resist a chuckle when he recalls when Atonement and its director Joe Wright first came to town.

"I was upstairs assembling reels for King Kong and my dad came up and said some people were in the foyer wanting to talk about making a film.

"I thought it'll be more students wanting to do another history of The Regent film - we get them quite often - and then when I came down to meet them I thought at least they're mature students."

He admits he didn't recognise director Joe, either.

"I had no idea who he was, " he says. "I remember him asking if I'd shown Pride and Prejudice and I said it didn't do as well as I'd hoped - then I just noticed his face.

"It came out they were from Working Title Films.

I knew they did Four Weddings and a Funeral, but I hadn't realised they were as active as they were. I realised at that point they were film makers.

"We've had film people in before, but there's never been any interest, so I didn't really put too much on it. They mentioned the novel was Atonement and started talking about the budget.

"I wanted to ask, I was curious, then when he came down the second time, I asked everyone what their names were. He said 'Joe Wright' and I was just about to say, 'no, I mean your name.' Then I realised. But he was so unassuming "I didn't really believe it. It had happened so many times before. After two months I got a phone call from the location manager and he started filling me in on figures and things and I was absolutely gob-smacked.

He started to mention who was involved, what they intended to do - I couldn't wait to tell everyone. Then things started moving from there.

"Every time they came back they kept getting larger and larger - one time there would be 15 then the next time 70. They could not believe their luck - finding a period cinema with a beach next to it - it was perfect for the film."

In August last year, months of preparations and building works came to a head as the cameras finally rolled at the location shoot for Atonement. The film, based on Ian McEwan's best-selling novel, saw parts of the small seaside town transformed into 1940s Dunkirk.

The Regent cinema was the setting for a battle scene, which spilled out on to the beach.

Neil recalls how he was equally star struck by leading man James McAvoy. "He made my day - seeing him having a bottle of beer at the post-film party on the steps of The Regent, so down to earth."

Now, almost 15 years to the day since The Regent re-opened, Neil is excited at the prospect of Atonement coming to life on his screen.

"It means an awful lot to me, " he says. "After being witness to the film and the shooting of those scenes, the premiere brings it full circle as you realise you're not detached from the industry, you're part of it.

"It definitely makes you want to continue. There's been a surge of interest in the past 12 months largely due to the interest that's been focused from the film.

"It seems to be a sense of achievement in that a cinema that could have just been boarded up and graffitied is now part of the film world."

Neil's own personal credits would naturally involve mum Pat, 71, and dad Bob, 74, whose front-of-house dedication remains as strong as ever and whose £5,000 advance of Neil's inheritance allowed him to revive The Regent. Tomorrow, Neil is determined to be the projectionist.

"I'll think 15 years ago I brought the cinema back from the brink of extinction, now it's actually part of the film world. There will certainly be a sense of emotion, a sense of delivery, " he says.