NEWS
EVENTS
The refurbished and rechristened Curzon Bloomsbury opens its doors
Other | Friday 27th March 2015 | Christina
The Russell Square cinema, formerly known as the Renoir Cinema, has reopened as the Curzon Bloomsbury after a ten-month refurbishment. Situated in the Brunswick centre, the former Renoir has undergone a comprehensive upgrade, with two screens transformed into six by Curzon, one of which, the Bertha DocHouse, will be dedicated to documentary screenings. As well as increasing capacity, this expansion will allow the cinema to show smaller releases for longer.
Although Curzon is a chain, albeit a small one, the new owners insist that the Bloomsbury cinema won’t lose its independent, arthouse feel. Curzon is celebrating the opening with The Auteur Film Festival, running from today until April 2nd, which features a selection of films, classic and modern, from notable directors. As detailed on the festival website, “the Auteur Film Festival is presented to acknowledge the diversity in world cinema, to celebrate the resurrection of a cultural institution and to reignite debate about the origins of greatness when it comes to cutting edge cinema.”
Some of the films included in the festival are the seminal sci-fi fllm Stalker from Andrei Tarkovsky, character drama masterpiece La Regle Du Jeu from Jean Renoir, Orson Welles’ final Hollywood picture Touch Of Evil, Hitchcock’s psychological thriller Vertigo, American classic Days Of Heaven from Terence Malick, Powell and Pressburger’s post-war A Matter Of Life And Death, Dario Argento’s operatic horror Suspiria, Sofia Coppola’s wistful Lost In Translation, Michael Haneke’s masterful Hidden, and David Lynch’s kaleidoscopic Mulholland Drive.
The Auteur Film Festival is certainly a fitting way to open the Curzon Bloomsbury, giving film fans and loyal patrons the chance to see films that don’t often appear on the big screen. Hopefully it also represents the Curzon’s commitment to exceptional and independent cinema.
Tickets for select screenings are still available on the Auteur Film Festival website.
