We have changed our name from The Bill Douglas Centre for the History of Cinema and Popular Culture to The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum. Also our galleries are now open on Saturdays and Sundays (10-5) for everyone to enjoy.
We think that these changes better reflect our status as both an accredited museum open to the public and a world renowned resource for research and study and will make it clearer what we do and what we can offer. Our new name continues to honour our founder, Bill Douglas, now acknowledged as one of Britain’s greatest filmmakers. Weekend openings will give people working during the week or visiting Devon for a short break, the chance to see our galleries exhibiting highlights of our amazing collection. Research facilities are still Monday to Friday 10-5. Curators will not usually be around at weekend but you can email with enquiries and librarians and security staff will be on hand to help you during your visit and lend you guide books and audio guides. We will still be closed on bank holidays and between Christmas and New Year. This year we will be closing on Christmas Eve and reopening on Thursday 2 January.
The Museum holds over 75,000 artefacts related to the moving image, dating from the seventeenth century to the present day. As well as having two galleries, free and open to the public, our materials are used by researchers across the University and in the wider academy and in classes attended by nearly a thousand students across a range of disciplines each year.
We are also upgrading this website in partnership with developer Rock Kitchen Harris and we hope to launch the new, modern site with enhanced searching early in 2014.