REMOTE rural communities are to be given access to the latest movie releases from later this year as part of a £1.2m pioneering scheme.

Many isolated villages do not have access to the latest movie blockbusters and locals have to travel to the nearest towns to view them.

Now Screen Yorkshire is looking to lead a group in launching the North Yorkshire Rural Cinema Pilot Scheme backed by National Lottery funds.

It is one of three pilot schemes to bring cinema to remote areas being run nationally by the UK Film Council.

The groundbreaking venture will see Blu Ray kit and digital cinema projection equipment taken out to venues like village and town halls and community arts venues.

This could then be operated easily from venues such as the Northallerton Forum, the Galtres Centre, Easingwold, and Whitby Pavilion.

Rural communities will be able to use the facilities to view films, sports events and music concerts.

Screen Yorkshire has now revealed the scheme will start in October this year and will run until the end of March 2013.

Sally Joynson, chief executive of Screen Yorkshire said: "Screen Yorkshire is proud to be leading this project which will impact across North Yorkshire.

"Drawing on the great experience in the region we can bring the joy and excitement of film to people and places without access to regular cinema."

At present isolated villages wanting to show the latest movies have to wait several months until they are released onto DVD.

John Woodward, UK Film Council chief executive officer, said: "Enabling people to get access to a wide range of films on the big screen is an important objective for us.

"Our research shows that there’s a big appetite for the cinema experience in rural areas, but in many cases it’s not being met."

Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, Creative Industries and Communications, said: "We are a nation full of people enthusiastic about film and these people don’t just live in our big cities.

"This innovative approach is an exciting step forward in giving people who don’t have easy access to cinemas more opportunities to see top-class films closer to home."