Across from the Milky Way, on Lijnbaansgracht, sits a cinema that never entered the race for the biggest popcorn bin. Cinecenter opened on Sept. 20, 1976, designed by architect Gerard de Klerk in a sleek modernist building. Three theaters at the start, a fourth in September 1979. And the same principle ever since: quality films, international arthouse, independent cinema. No blockbusters.
The four theaters are named after movie icons, which immediately tells you what kind of cinema this is. Coraline is the largest with 113 seats, Peppe-Nappa and Pierrot have 103 seats each, and Jean Vigo is the smallest with 52 seats. Together they account for 254 seats. What runs in those theaters is another story. Right now L'Étranger, the film adaptation of the Camus classic by François Ozon, is having its Dutch premiere here. And More than Babi Pangang, a documentary about the first generation of Chinese Dutch, is also premiering here. That's exactly the kind of program Cinecenter makes: films you won't find at Pathé.
In 1998, the interior received a thorough overhaul. The lounge bar environment that was put in then is still there. You can go there before and after the movie, giving the theater something of a place where you stay longer than just for the screening. Gerard de Klerk designed the building for the film, but the atmosphere inside also invites you to hang out for a while. That suits the neighborhood: Lijnbaansgracht and the Leidsekwartier neighborhood are rich in culture, with the Melkweg literally around the corner.
Four theaters named after film icons, a lounge bar to extend the evening, and a program that consistently chooses quality over box office.
Cinecenter is not a cinema you choose by chance. You go there because you know what you want to see, or just because you're curious about what's playing. Four theaters named after movie icons, a lounge bar to extend the evening, and a program that consistently chooses quality over box office. It's been that way for nearly fifty years, and it works.