Monico Movies, a not-for-profit film group, based in Rhiwbina can’t wait to reopen
A RHIWBINA community cinema has celebrated its fifth anniversary.
Monico Movies, based at Canolfan Beulah on Beulah Road, could not proceed with planned celebrations as the community centre has been closed since March.
Instead, cinemagoers were encouraged to watch The Grand Budapest Hotel in their own time. That was the film shown at Monico’s opening night five years ago.
The crew also put together a short film to reassure their supporters that they will be back as soon as possible.
Monico Movies was founded by a group of local people who are involved in the community.
Husband and wife team Harley and Vivienne Jones decided to create Monico after attending a training course on how to run a cinema.
Harley has been involved with film his whole life, and had always wanted to open his own cinema. The couple invited some friends to their home and asked if they would like to be a part of it.
The original Monico Cinema closed in 2003 after a 65-year run, and the group wanted to pay homage to this historical site by including its name in the new cinema.
Sue Harding, 52, a founding member of Monico, said: “Our aim is not to compete with the bigger cinemas, but to bring groups of strangers together to share an experience.”
In October 2015, their first film was shown, and the cinema sold all 60 tickets. The next showing was in a larger room, with a capacity of 80.
The cinema sells all its tickets in their “box offices” in Rhiwbina shops: Ginger Whites on Beulah Road, The Deri Stores on Wenallt Road and The Honey Pot Newsagents on Heol Llanishen Fach.
Admission is just £4, as the aim is not to make money, but to share a love of film.
Vivienne Jones, founder of the community cinema, said: “Lots of our audience are local older people who can walk to the hall. They feel safe in Monico.”
Monthly film nights start with a clip of the old Monico Cinema, followed by trailers and a short film. At the interval, the old Cornetto advert is played and the audience are offered ice creams.
The films often end with applause from the entire audience. “It takes your breath away,” said Sue, who was not interested on films before becoming involved with Monico Movies.
Afterwards, the audience stay on to discuss the film with each other and the crew.
So far, the cinema has shown over 50 films.
“I enjoy the films. It’s such an interesting programme, and it is always the same people that go. I’ve missed the general enjoyment and the human contact during lockdown,” said Roger Martin, 80, a Monico regular.
Monico has been closed for eight months now, and hopes to return in spring 2021. The last film shown there, in February, was Death at a Funeral.
“We don’t charge a membership fee as we want to be inclusive. However, the downside is that we don’t know where our audience is,” said Sue.
“We felt gutted that we couldn’t help our loyal audiences during lockdown, but we had no way to contact them. We’ve had our hands tied.”
There are currently 80 people in Rhiwbina with a ticket to see Pavarotti, which was due to be shown in March. However, when it reopens, the cinema will have reduced seating to allow for social distancing.
Money made from showing the films goes back into the cinema. In recent years Monico has been able to buy a new screen and projector and hire the community hall.
For their fifth anniversary, crew members gathered on Zoom to watch Cinema Paradiso, which is Vivienne’s favourite film. They even replicated the interval, when they paused the film and chatted together.
“From the point of view of the crew, it’s a very social experience,” said Vivienne, “We do everything in joint agreement.”
