Homemade village cinemas in the north have won almost a fifth of a National Lottery handout to buy projectors, screens and even ice-cream trays in remote communities.

The regional share of £500,000 will bring new films such as My Summer Of Love into venues including the large metal shed at the hamlet of Appleton-le-Moors, 10 miles from the nearest cinema in Pickering, North Yorkshire.

The newly formed Film Village Society has been given £841.32 for a screen and speaker system for the shed, built in 1911 as a reading room annexe to the village hall to discourage farm labourers from drinking in the pub.

"It was very popular because they put a snooker table in there as well," said Henry Iles, of the Appleton Film Society. "We had a survey earlier this year under the national Vital Villages scheme and the thing which people said they'd most like to see in Appleton was somewhere to watch films."

The resulting 32-seat mini-cinema, just waiting for its fire and safety licence before renting its first reels, is typical of successful bids for the lottery money, says the UK Film Council which allocated the money. The 81 successful clubs promise to remedy a growing imbalance in cinema-going between London, which accounts for 26% of national film visits, and regions such as the north-east (3.7%) and the Scottish borders (1%).

"The scheme will mean more people can enjoy films as they were meant to be seen - on a big screen with an audience," said Pete Buckingham, head of distribution and exhibition at the film council. "Big budget blockbusters like Troy and Harry Potter as well as new and challenging film-making from home and abroad, such as Touching the Void and Goodbye Lenin!, will now be available to new audiences throughout the UK."

The bulk of the £100,000 grants made to northern societies, from Lytham St Anne's Film Society to Haltwhistle Film Project, will be spent on mobile digital projectors, capable of bringing the visual and sound effects of big cinemas to village hall screens.

"We want everyone to come along," said Mr Iles, a graphic designer planning a Yorkshire season of films. Classics already booked include Winifred Holtby's South Riding, and starring the young Ralph Richardson, as well as recent titles such as Calendar Girls which, until the grants, Yorkshire Dales villagers were almost as likely to appear in as extras, as to see on the screen.