The Rio Cinema is a Grade II
listed
Listed may refer to:
* Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm
* Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic
* Endangered species in biology
* Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...
independent
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
cinema in east London. It is a popular independent cinema located on Kingsland High Street in Dalston, with a history stretching back over 100 years. The Rio added a second screen in the unused basement space in December 2017.
[Peter Beech]
''Cine-files: Rio, Dalston, London''
theguardian.com, 21 June 2011, retrieved 9 September 2014
The Rio was named one of London's best cinemas by the ''Daily Telegraph''
[Oliver Smith]
telegraph.co.uk, 21 August 2014, retrieved 9 September 2014 and best cinema bars by the ''Evening Standard''.
Programming and events
The programme usually includes one main feature film each week, chosen by Executive Director Oliver Meek and head projectionist Peter Howden. These range from arthouse to blockbusters. There is usually a Saturday late show, Bargain Mondays, Tuesday discounts for Hackney Library Card holders, and regular Parents and Babies screenings. The Rio also works with programming partners such as the East End Film Festival, The London Feminist Film Festival, Doc'n Roll and the Fringe! Gay Film Fest.
It also hosts film festivals including the annual Turkish Film Festival, which began at the cinema in 1994.
As a charity, the cinema undertakes cultural outreach through cut-price tickets for the children's and community screenings, schools events, and a monthly classic matinee for over-60s. Every year hundreds of school children attend film screenings and educational events at the Rio Cinema.
The building is open 364 days a year, with over 1300 screenings annually. The stalls on the ground floor seat 188, and the circle (open on busy days) seats 214, the new second screen in the basement seats 28 with a wheelchair space.
[Richard Welbirg]
''A grand history of the Rio''
''Hackney Citizen'', 26 October 2009, retrieved 9 September 2014[Emma Bartholomew]
''Rio cinema call to arms: warning it can’t keep operating at a loss''
''Hackney Gazette'', 10 October 2013, retrieved 9 September 2014[Anna Prokova]
''Good news for Hackney: Rio Cinema is not closing down''
eastlondonlines.co.uk, 18 October 2013, retrieved 9 September 2014
History
Kingsland Palace & Kingsland Empire
The building was originally an auctioneer's shop, converted into the Kingsland Palace in 1909 by owner Clara Ludski. It was one of five cinemas in Dalston and an immediate hit.
Its success led to properties either side being bought up, and the architect
George Coles George Coles may refer to:
* George Coles (Cambridge University cricketer) (1798–1865), English amateur cricketer
* George Coles (politician)
George Coles (September 20, 1810 – August 21, 1875) was a Canadian politician, being the first ...
was commissioned to design a new single-screen picturehouse. Construction began in 1913, and the Kingsland Empire opened in 1915.
The Kingsland Empire's style was 'late
Edwardian
The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...
neo-classical'. There was a two-level tea room, domed tower, and an elaborate auditorium featuring five side arches and a
proscenium
A proscenium ( grc-gre, προσκήνιον, ) is the metaphorical vertical plane of space in a theatre, usually surrounded on the top and sides by a physical proscenium arch (whether or not truly "arched") and on the bottom by the stage floor ...
with double
Ionic columns
The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite or ...
either side, topped by a
frieze
In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...
.
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
say that the original Kingsland Empire was "more theatrical in planning and decoration than most cinemas of that date".
1930s Art Deco
In 1933 the cinema was purchased from Clara Ludski by London & Southern Cinemas Ltd, and in 1936 by Capital & Provincial News Theatres (who became at that time the Classic Cinema chain..
The building was refurbished in Art Deco style by cult architect FE Bromige in 1937 and reopened as the Classic Cinema Dalston, within the shell of the earlier cinema. The ceiling and upper walls of the earlier auditorium survive, only accessible from the roof. As many cinemas were remodelled with the arrival of sound in the 1930s, nowhere else are two very different auditoria found one within the other. According to English Heritage, this is "an exceptionally rare survival". The exterior has remained almost unchanged since the thirties.
1940s to early 1970s
The Classic sustained bomb blast damage during the Blitz in 1941 when a high explosive bomb fell across the street in Birkbeck Mews. In the early 1950s the cinema received a makeover with simplified signage and neon, in 1958 it became the Classic Cartoon Theatre, and in 1960 it became the Classic Continental showing foreign language films, and its next guise was as a Tatler Cinema Club in 1971 screening uncensored adult films with live striptease burlesque acts on stage.
1976 to present day
In 1976 the cinema came under independent
cooperative
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
management. Since 1979 it has been run as a
not-for-profit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
registered
charity
Charity may refer to:
Giving
* Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons
* Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing
* Ch ...
with an elected
board
Board or Boards may refer to:
Flat surface
* Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat
** Plank (wood)
** Cutting board
** Sounding board, of a musical instrument
* Cardboard (paper product)
* Paperboard
* Fiberboard
** Hardboard, a ty ...
of local people who act as volunteer
trustee
Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to t ...
s. The current chairman of the board is Patrick Lyons.
The blue and pink Art Deco interior was restored in 1997, remaining faithful to Bromige's design, and the building became Grade II listed in 1999. Elain Harwood of English Heritage called the cinema a 'remarkable' work of ‘sweeping curves’.
The
bus stop
A bus stop is a place where buses stop for passengers to get on and off the bus. The construction of bus stops tends to reflect the level of usage, where stops at busy locations may have shelters, seating, and possibly electronic passenger ...
outside the building was renamed as 'Rio Cinema' in 2012 after thousands of people successfully petitioned
Transport for London.
Local people were warned to 'use it or lose it' as box office revenues declined in 2013. Over £4000 was raised, and the cinema seems determined to live on.
In August 2016 it was announced that a second screen would be added in the basement space of the Rio, opening in summer 2017.
In 2017 the cinema successfully raised £125,000 to restore the art deco exterior and build a second screen in the large basement space, the second screen seating 28 opened in December 2017.
In May 2019, the cinema opened a new bar in the basement space, next to the second screen. The bar was named the Ludski Bar, in tribute to Clara Ludski, the original owner of the cinema.
References
External links
* {{Official website, http://riocinema.org.uk/RioCinema.dll/Home Official website
Cinemas in London
Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Hackney
Art Deco architecture in London
Dalston