Travel

The Silver Screen

Cinema is magic in the service of dreams

– Djibril Diop Mambety

We are all motivated to travel for different reasons. Typically we move to meet up with others or to experience a different culture or landscape.

But sometimes we travel to feed a particular interest. I have three great passions in life; travel, wine and film. If there is a way to combine these on a trip, that’s pretty near perfect travel. What’s your passion and do you travel especially for it?

I have attended major film festivals in London, Berlin and Melbourne and also gained accreditation to work at FESPACO in Burkina Faso, Dubai, Durban, Abu Dhabi and Bali International film festivals.

On holiday we have often travelled to places and then, on researching, found out about a unique micro cinema. My film fanaticism would immediately kick in.

In Australia a few years ago we had booked to take The Ghan from Darwin to Adelaide. I was delighted to hear about the deckchair cinema there, perched high up on a cliff. It screens excellent world cinema. We were able to watch the thought provoking Where Do We Go From Here (2011) by Nadine Labaki, the Lebanese director who had made the stunning Caramel (2007) a few years before, one of my favourite films.

Each visit to a cinema in a new place is usually by chance. In Rome last year I found out about the tiny cinema house in Villa Borghese Park, Cinema dei Piccoli. It is a fantastic venue! We watched the beautiful feature animation, La Tartaruga Rosso (The Red Turtle, 2017) and strolled through the park afterwards, marvelling at the stone pine trees at twilight. It’s a little bit off the tourist trail in Italy’s capital, but well worth the effort.

More recently we found three unique cinema spaces in S E Asia. While living in Jakarta, we enjoyed several screenings at the laid back Kinosaurus, a micro cinema great with sofas, beanbags, a good cafe and a focus on Indonesian film.

Over in Bali, we welcomed the opportunity to watch the award winning Lion (2016) by Garth Davis at Cinema Paradiso, the world’s first vegan cinema. Its a very different cinema experience. You are invited to buy your vegetarian dinner at their delicious cafe and then you receive a ticket to the evening’s film screening.

A long weekend away in Singapore indulged both our passions. For my husband that was a full day at the Rugby 7s. For me, it was getting the chance to go to the Screening Room in Chinatown, my favourite part of Singapore. The listing had been changed at the last minute but the tapas and Peroni were good.

All these cinema spaces have something in common. They are all quirky and eclectic independent film houses, which tend to focus on less mainstream film. They offer a unique experience away from the multiplexes. And they are rarely advertised for tourists.

Would you recommend a unique film house somewhere that you have travelled to?