Riverside Studios: use it or lose it
Monday July 9th 2012
Look away now, 65% of this blog’s readership: this is a London-centric post. Yesterday I made one of my all-too-infrequent visits to Riverside Studios, ‘London’s pre-eminent space for risk, inspiration and creativity’ (though they say so themselves) and home to one of the city’s best rep cinemas, notable for a program made up almost entirely of double bills.
In 2012, it’s pretty incredible that London even has double feature cinema, let alone one as brilliant as the Riverside. The auditorium features stadium seating, pristine sound and picture, and is probably the best place in the UK to watch movies in 1.37: 1. The staff are friendly, the tickets are cheap (£9.50 for two films) and the program is a thing of beauty. Just look at some of the stuff they’ve got coming up in July and August:
![]() |
Thursday 12th July | |
Weekend / Romeos |
||
![]() |
Friday 13th – Saturday 14th July | |
Whisky Galore! / The Angel’s Share |
||
![]() |
Sunday 15th July | |
French Cancan / The Rules of the Game |
||
![]() |
Tuesday 17th July | |
Borat / The Dictator |
||
![]() |
Sunday 22nd July | |
Out of the Past / The Bad and the Beautiful |
||
![]() |
Tuesday 24th July | |
Sket / Ill Manors |
||
![]() |
Thursday 26th July | |
2 Days in Paris / 2 Days in New York |
||
![]() |
Friday 27th – Saturday 28th July | |
The Kid with a Bike / Polisse |
||
![]() |
Sunday 29th July | |
Exterminating Angel / Belle de Jour |
||
![]() |
Monday 30th – Tuesday 31st July | |
Dead Ringers / Cosmopolis |
||
![]() |
Thursday 2nd August | |
À bout de souffle / Bande à Part |
||
![]() |
Sunday 5th August | |
Mildred Pierce / Laura |
||
![]() |
Friday 10th – Saturday 11th August | |
Blood Simple / Killer Joe |
||
![]() |
Sunday 12th August | |
Apocalypse Now – Redux / Hearts of Darkness |
||
![]() |
Tuesday 14th August | |
Woody Allen: A Documentary / Manhattan |
||
![]() |
Thursday 16th August | |
Antichrist / The Hunter |
||
![]() |
Sunday 19th August | |
Some Like It Hot / The Apartment |
||
![]() |
Wednesday 22nd – Thursday 23rd August | |
Happiness / Dark Horse |
||
I’m not entirely sure how the place has managed to weather the storm of Tory cuts that have done such damage to other art spaces in the capital and around the UK. Perhaps it’s the Riverside’s popularity as a TV studio (for such ‘risky, inspirational and creative’ shows as Celebrity Juice) that allows it to continue its wildly eclectic, offbeat approach to cinema programming. Whatever the reason, you’d be a fucking idiot not to get yourself down to Hammersmith ASAP and catch a double bill before they realise their mistake and start showing Prometheus back-to-back, six shows a day.