The Coolest Cinema in London

I know this title is full of hype and I will have to already tell you what goes without saying; there is no one coolest cinema in London, but many cool ones, so my choice here will be purely personal.

They are so many cool cinemas in London, that it's definitely hard to pick up the coolest one. I like the Curzon Cinemas, both in Mayfair and in Soho and I adore the BFI's, they are the utter invention. Frakly. BFI Southbank is of course my number one, the place I was spending most of my time when I was living nearby, in the Stamford street Student Hall, but also the IMAX -with the best working force- even more nearby. National Library in Stephen Street is another über cool place, but, well, this is not a cinema, it's a library, so I have to leave it out.

Basically, I am pretty obsessed with London Film Festival and the London Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and all their venues, which means that I regard all their venues as très hip, even more during the festival. But, ladies and gentlemen, the coolest cinema in London is not any of the above for me.

Prince Charles is the coolest one; situated in the whereabouts of the Chinatown quarter, a street up from Leicester Square (the bloody touristic yak Square) on 7 Leicester Place this cinema is the most varied and the craziest in town. It also boasts being the only independent cinema in Central London, which is quite a deed. The screenings start at around 13.00 every day, which allows them to show almost eight films per day ! Different ones. Which is the coolest thing per se. What makes it own the title of "repertory cinema". They are films of the previous season, usually, or some classics, some sing a long musical versions and many genre marathons or double bills (they had a Ryan Gosling double bill last week). One more cool thing is the ticket price: it's maybe the cheapest downtown, it starts from four or six pounds and can be up to ten pounds, but, some years ago it was only two pounds, and that was what made me dedicate my heart to it to eternity. The screening room is quite old -there's also a smaller one-, the seats feature red velvet torn here and there, there is a cool balcony, there is some great decadent feeling circulating, ow, what else can you possibly ask for.

I watched The Libertine there, and Tony Takitani and much more, they are too many to recall. Prince Charles, Ladies and Gentlemen, if you are in London don't miss it. Four more words to convince you: Membership Scheme: 50 pounds. Full stop. (Είπα και ελάλησα).

*No, they didn't pay me.