The Prince Charles Cinema in central London (Dominic Lipinski/PA) (PA Archive)
London’s cinema history isn’t quite the stuff of vaulting legend. It’s more discreet than all that.
The Regent Street Cinema is chronologically where things began, in the 1840s, with so-called magic lantern shows (which would probably fall under the ‘variety’ umbrella today, as they featured comedy, live music and projections of hand-drawn images) and British Our Army, Our Navy films which brought a certain Imperial propaganda from the music hall to the silver screen.
It all sounds terribly stunted and slow and English. The birth of cinema in England was a long, contracted labour, whereas in the United States, the delivery was far faster.
The Castle Cinema was recently restored after a crowdfunding campaign (Daniel Lynch)
As with much of the late 19th Century in the US, things were bolder, brighter and moved quickly. The early cinemas opened at the very advent of the Lumieré brothers’ cinematic invention, bringing an immediacy to this new format, one which even native Edison couldn’t have predicted (he famously thought no one would want to sit in cinemas for more than 10 minutes. One wonders what he’d make of the Irishman).
Fast forward and the 20th century saw the creation of the now-familiar enormous multi-billion dollar movie industry, exploding cinema visitor numbers and moving it from the reserve of the upper classes to the masses.
While today, cinema weekend releases like the so-called “Barbenheimer” (Barbie and Oppenheimer) or “Gladicked” (Gladiator II and Wicked) reciprocally bump everyone’s numbers up, it tends to be the bigger brands that benefit most, leaving independent cinemas trailing behind.
London has come a long way since the Regent Street Cinema first opened. Businesses like Curzon, Everyman and Picturehouse have maintained an independent feel, while multi-million profits can often offer the best of both worlds: namely the ticket value of a bigger cinema with some of the independent releases which cinephiles crave.
But London’s truly unique independent cinemas are far more indie than all that. They’re typically run by eccentric movie-lovers who’ve spent lifetimes building their highly curated catalogue of the world’s greatest movies, folk to talk about the films of Ousmane Sembène, Youssef Chahine and Abbas Kiarostami. They are probably wearing a cardigan.
Here’s where.
From intimate 15-seater venues to vaulting theatres, these are London’s top indie cinemas (Max Colson Photography)
Ciné-Real and Castle Cinema
Founded in 2011, Ciné-Real has a dedication to the 16mm format, the format under which cinema and TV recordings exploded, as it was far cheaper to produce in 16mm than in wider 35mm. Director Liam Saint-Pierre and projectionist Ümit Mesut founded the Ciné-Real space as a celebration of cinema and alongside anamorphic screenings within the gorgeous Castle Cinema in Homerton, Ciné-Real has its own 15-seater screening room. Drop in to visit Mesut, pick a 16mm film from his huge catalogue, gather a few pals and book yourself a private screening.
Ciné-Real, 35 Lower Clapton Road, E5 0NS, cine-real.com, Castle Cinema, First Floor, 64 – 66 Brooksby’s Walk, E9 6DA, thecastlecinema.com
The Garden Cinema
39-41 Parker Street, WC2B 5PQ, thegardencinema.co.uk
Prince Charles Cinema
Prince Charles in Chinatown has it all. It’s a lauded indie cinema which Quentin Tarantino calls his favourite in the UK, it’s one which shows the latest blockbuster releases alongside special 35mm screenings of golden era classics and modern masterpieces. It’s the home to 12-hour Lord of the Rings marathons and Rocky Horror Picture Show singalongs and £1 tickets for members. Tarantino is right: it’s probably the best cinema in Britain.
7 Leicester Place, WC2H 7BY, princecharlescinema.com
Lexi Kensal Rise
The Lexi perfectly curates a line-up of in-demand Hollywood releases blended with closer-to-home independent films. That means you’re likely to find Wicked of Gladiator II this season alongside lesser-talked-about pictures like Bird or a showing of the to-Netflix Joy. In a landscape increasingly relying on streaming platforms to measure performance, the Lexi is an example of how to bring these releases into a more communal, physical space.
194b Chamberlayne Road, NW10 3JU, thelexicinema.co.uk
Rich Mix
35-47 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6LA, richmix.org.uk
Close-up Cinema
Among the self-parodying businesses which out-Shoreditch Shoreditch (yes, that really was a vegan bistro inside a yoga studio next to a natty wine bar and an artisanal chocolate shop) stands Close-up. This is what a small independent east London cinema should be all about: expert curation. The Archive spans some 26,000 titles, from early cinema and classics to documentaries and rare films exclusive to the cinema. The range of live q&a sessions help add extra texture to this exemplary line up.
97 Sclater Street, E1 6HR, closeupfilmcentre.com
Barbican
While not a small venue, the Barbican is still fiercely independent and its line up of film is impossible to overlook in any guide of London’s finest. From the London Palestinian Film Festival to the Pioneering Indian Cinema retrospective to the display of selected Duke Ellington shorts, the breadth, depth and interest of the Barbican’s programme is unrivalled in London. Not only does it have the power of a large institution to help keep even the most niche tickets relatively affordable, but it wields that power softly to pull in some fabulous enriching names for q&a sessions and talks. Independent cinema at its finest.
Silk St, EC2Y 8DS, barbican.org.uk
Electric Cinema
The Rio
107 Kingsland High Street, E8 2PB, riocinema.org.uk
The Regent Street Cinema
307 Regent Street, W1B 2HW, regentstreetcinema.com