The White Bus Ltd was founded in October 2007 to provide film and video production, education and exhibition services. To the general public our most high-profile events are the annual Southend Film Festival, our regular film shows at various venues, including the Palace Theatre, Westcliff, and our Archive Evenings at our own Cinema in the The Old Waterworks art gallery, housed in an old Victorian water works (for further details see Events). And for those who like films of the spooky and the macabre variety we are delighted to host the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival.

 

We are Southend based, with our roots firmly planted in the local community, although we are quite prepared to travel far from home. Our office is at The Old Waterworks, where our Cinema is available for private hire for previews, birthday parties, celebrations, etc. Also at The Old Waterworks is our Archive, home to nearly 3,000 reels of 16mm and 35mm film comprising over 270 British feature films and hundreds of short films, documentaries and animation, including the most complete collection of the works of iconic director Lindsay Anderson, whose drama documentary, The White Bus, inspired our company name. Selections from the Archive are shown every Wednesday evening. The films in the Archive are also available for private viewing in the Cinema.

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Company director Paul Cotgrove (secretary to the Lindsay Anderson Memorial Foundation) has a proven record of success in a variety of film industry appointments which have demanded top quality management, training, knowledge and interpersonal skills. Having served his time as a negative cutter and film treatment technician he spent the ten years before founding The White Bus Ltd as Technical Manager in the British Council Films and Television Department – while also taking the time, among many other projects, to produce, write and direct a 20-minute 35mm fiction film, Green Fingers.

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Paul is therefore uniquely qualified to discuss projects from a ‘hands on’ point of view. This, and the extensive network of talented industry professionals he has brought together, ensures the best results every time.