Cinema: Now showing - a new home for film lovers

The Lux Centre, 2-4 Hoxton Sq, London N1

As the Brit-pack actors continue to make an impact in Hollywood, British film-makers and technicians increasingly look like they've been left behind.

The Lux Centre, a new arthouse cinema complex opening tonight in Hackney, east London, wants to change all this. Nestling next to the notorious home of jungle, The Blue Note in London's so-hip-it-hurts Hoxton Square, it has not only chosen a great time to establish itself - but the ultimate place.

Lux, with the help of a sound pounds 4.5m cash injection from the Arts Council and National Lottery, is giving the country's young film-makers an unprecedented gift. Along with a state-of-the-art cinema, there will be cameras, editing suites and hi-tech film-making equipment for hire for minimal cost. "We're especially committed to helping people with absolutely no money make films," says Lars Drinko, spokesman for Lux. Fighting words, but will they cope with the nation's present home film boom? "Yes," says Drinko. "We may be busy, but we'll cope." After all Lux, a coming together of The London Film-makers Co-op and London Electronic Arts, has been doing this already for years.

While only the cinema is open tonight, next month sees the production facilities ready for use along with gallery space that boasts gargantuan glass windows peering out onto Hoxton Square. Movies will be projected onto the walls behind these so that people will be able to see them while sitting in the square. As if the place couldn't get any groovier, Acid Jazz are building a cafe next door.

Programmes have been deliberately constructed with the aim of enticing as many potential cinema-goers as possible. Their opening feature bodes well. Gallivant, Andrew Kotting's debut work, is a journey around the coast of Britain. It follows his 87-year-old grandmother, Gladys, and his daughter, Eden, 7, - a Jouberts Syndrome sufferer who can only communicate through sign language - on their three-month trail. A poignant, avant- garde road movie sure to warm the heart.

Details: 0171 684 0201