Watching a movie in a converted caravan, Piaggio Ape, or former anatomical pathology lab; what could be cooler than that? And to make things even better, the films shown in these mini Dutch cinemas are also a pleasant surprise.
In recent months, visitors to Amsterdam’s newest cinema, the Filmhallen could pop into the Cinevan to view a selection of short films. During spring and summer, this movie caravan – equipped with six cinema seats and a white cloth – will head out on tour, and can be found at several (film) festivals in the Netherlands. These include the Flemish Film Festival (Utrecht,) Down the Rabbit Hole (Beuningen), and the Open-air Cinema festival (Rotterdam). Check the Cineville website for more information.
The smallest cinema in the world is called I Vitelloni: Cinema Piccolo, and is named after Fellini’s masterpiece. This truly mini-cinema can only seat two people at a time, which makes your film visit extra exclusive. And as it’s inside a Piaggio Ape, the movie house (or should we say, “van”) can travel from (film) festival to (film) festival, and there’s even a tour to California on the agenda. I Vitelloni’s Dutch founder offers makers of short films the opportunity to show their work to a wider audience, thus putting the genre of short films on the movie map – both at home and abroad. What’s more, he has also travelled to Hollywood to show Dutch short films to an American audience. You can read more about it on his blog.
The movie theaters Lab111, a former anatomical pathology laboratory in Amsterdam, are slightly larger (from 40 to 112 seats), but the atmosphere in this building is just as great. It’s like stepping into a scene from a Stanley Kubrick film. And as with the other two, you’re more likely to come across special films here – such as animations or controversial documentaries – that you might not normally find in your regular cinemas. In the forthcoming months, they’ll be playing Ida, the Polish drama nominated for an Oscar for best foreign film.
