An Art Deco cinema is marking 50 years since it was rescued by the community.
Over its long history, The Rio in Dalston has been an Edwardian picture palace, movie theatre, air raid shelter, and a strip joint.
But since being run as a not for profit community-led venture it has settled into its final role as an east London icon – recently named among the world’s 100 greatest cinemas by Time Out.
The Classic cinema on its opening day in 1937. (Image: Rio Cinema)
To celebrate five decades in safe hands, the cinema is hosting a six-month programme of events Rio Forever, starting with a grand launch party on Saturday April 18 – curated by artist Jeremy Deller.
The Hackney movie theatre lays claim to being the UK’s longest-running cinema – as a site where films have been screened since 1909.
It started life as an auctioneer’s shop that was converted into the Kingsland Palace by owner and visionary Jewish entrepreneur Clara Ludski.
A view of the cinema in 1950 possibly a publicity stunt for a movie called The Gorilla. (Image: Courtesy of The Rio)
It was an immediate hit, and soon she had bought up the properties on either side with architect George Coles commissioned to design a new single-screen picture house.
Construction began in 1913, and the Kingsland Empire opened in 1915 with a two-level tea room, domed tower, and elaborate auditorium featuring five side arches, a proscenium arch and ionic columns.
When Clara sold up in 1933, the cinema changed hands twice in three years with Capital & Provincial News Theatres refurbishing it in Art Deco style assisted by architect F E Bromige.
The Rio was previously called The Classic – pictured here in 1949. (Image: Rio Cinema)
The grand opening in 1937 saw it rechristened The Classic Cinema Dalston – the original Edwardian ceiling and upper walls survive unseen which English Heritage calls “an exceptionally rare survival”.
The exterior has remained almost unchanged since the thirties. The basement was turned into an air raid shelter during World War Two and the building survived a nearby bomb blast in 1941.
There was another makeover in the early 1950s, but by 1958 the cinema had changed its name again to the Classic Cartoon Theatre, showing news reels and family animations, before switching the following year to the Classic Continental with a programme of foreign language films.
In 1970 it was turned into the Tatler Cinema Club when a relaxation in censorship laws allowed cinemas to show “adult entertainment”. The grand old cinema saw strippers and burlesque acts performing on stage in between films.
The Rio has become a landmark in Kingsland Road and is celebrating its 50th milestone with a programme of events and activities launching on April 18th. (Image: The Rio in Dalston)
The Rio as we know it today was born in 1976, when an independent cooperative with links to the Centreprise book shop took over.
They began running it as a not-for-profit charity in 1979 with an elected board of local people who act as volunteer trustees – which continues to this day.
English Heritage granted the Rio Grade II listing in 1999 in recognition of its stand out architecture, and in 2017 a successful fundraiser carried out repairs and installed a bar and second screen in the basement.
Rio Forever will embody the venue’s eclectic programming with a mix of archival gems from the past 50 years, showings of 35mm films, film maker events and fundraisers to help maintain this historic building and ensure it remains a community-run space for generations to come.
Clara and Walter (Image: Deborah Goodman)
The Hackney Society will unveil a plaque to Clara (1862–1933) – a woman born to Jewish Prussian immigrants who had the vision to open one of London’s first full time cinemas.
And the opening night party will feature outsider art, music and film under one roof.
Film maker-led events include Sally Potter presenting her trailblazing Virginia Woolf biopic, Orlando; Oscar-winning film director and homegrown Hackney hero Asif Kapadia, who will introduce a rare 35mm print of one of his favourite movies: Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather; writer-director Dionne Edwards on Wachowskis’ boundary-pushing neo-noir thriller, Bound, and a celebration screening of Prince’s Purple Rain.
Horror, documentaries, art house movies and new British cinema will also feature in the series with further details at riocinema.org.uk