Written as part of the Worthing WOW festival celebrations, Electric Pictures commemorates 120 years of film in the Sussex coastal towns of Worthing and Shoreham, capturing the region’s rich cinematic legacy and its place in British film history. From film-making pioneers through to blockbuster films and key events in the film history of the coast, this volume draws on research from film archives and local history resources to tell the story of the south coast film world. Richly illustrated and featuring contributions from local historians and film and theatre specialists, this book also includes an additional Heritage Trail guide that reveals key filming locations and the towns’ cinemas.

Ellen Cheshire is a freelance film researcher, writer and lecturer. She has published books on biopics (for Columbia University Press), Ang Lee and Jane Campion (for Supernova Books), Audrey Hepburn and the Coen Brothers (for Pocket Essentials), and has contributed chapters to books on James Bond and Charlie Chaplin (for Taschen Books), silent film and counterculture (for Supernova Books), fantasy films (for MS Publications) and war movies (for Ian Allen). She has lectured in film and media at the University of Chichester and Chichester College. In 2016 she was Film Historian for Worthing WOW’s Heritage Lottery funded project celebrating 120 years of film in Sussex. James Clarke is a freelance writer and lecturer. His books include The Virgin Film Guide: War Films and Movie Movements: Films that Changed the World of Cinema and he has contributed to The Rough Guide to Film. He has worked extensively in community film-making and film education and several of his short film projects have played at national and international film festivals. He writes regularly for the magazines 3DArtist and SciFi Now. His writing has also been published by Resurgence and Country Walking magazines. James has taught at a number of universities, including the Universities of Gloucestershire and Warwick. James is currently co-writing a feature-film screenplay.