FEATURE: Mini caravan becomes the world’s smallest solar movie theatre

by Damien Sharkov
Sometimes even the biggest stars of the silver screen lose their shine. Paul O’Connor and Jo Furlong have taken the matter in their own hands, by having their own cinema, made from an upcycled caravan, reliant on a much more trustworthy star – the Sun.
Billed as the world’s smallest solar movie theatre, Sol Cinema seats eight adults and travels nationally, giving everybody the chance to experience the excitement of the big screen in a new quirky, fun and not to mention environmentally friendly way.
“We wanted to give important exposure to short films, but also have fun parodying mainstream cinema,” Paul, a filmmaker himself, says.
The caravan itself is a three berth Euro-Camper, originally designed in 1965, to be towed by a British Leyland Mini.
Of course its design has come a long way since Paul and Jo conceived of Sol Cinema.
Two wooden tiers of seat frames were installed, cushioned and upholstered, the interior was made to match the red carpet nature of the theatre in production and an LED projector was installed in the back.
The most technically complex part of this caravan project was, however, the installation of the 120W solar panels, designed by David Lloyd-Jones.
All appliances had to conform to an energy-saving standard to ensure they could run under the circumstances of this unorthodox caravan revamp.
Still Sol Cinema retains an air of fun about it, despite the amount of work that has gone into Paul and Jo’s vision. The little caravan has been all around Britain in the last few months, spreading cinema magic from Glastonbury festival to private hire events on every corner of the land.
For more information on hiring Sol Cinema visit thesolcinema.org