Screen Cinema 3.88

The Screen Cinema was a three-screen cinema in Hawkins Street, Dublin, Ireland.HistoryThe cinema had been operating since 1984, showing world cinema, and independent and Irish films. The Screen Cinema, originally named The New Metropole, opened on 16 March 1972 on the corner of Hawkins Street and Townsend Street on the site of the previous cinema, The Regal, which had been demolished since 1962 to make way for offices. The New Metropole name derived from the more famous Metropole Cinema on O'Connell Street (Penney's department store now occupies the building), and after the latter closed in 1973, the New Metropole became the Metropole.Originally a single screen cinema, the auditorium was subdivided in 1982 to create two additional auditoria. The new screens were suspended from the ceiling, meaning the main screen was not reduced.In 1984, it was renamed the Screen Cinema, which became the sister cinema to the more well known Savoy Cinema on O'Connell Street. After this, the Screen showed more unusual, independent, and foreign language films rather than mainstream Hollywood films, which attracted a cult audience to the cinema.The Screen received a face-lift between 2004–2005 when the interior was upgraded and the cinema lost its original marquee and neon sign in favour of an electronic board displaying the programme.Despite its unusual layout, the cinema has maintained a steady flow of cinema-goers, and thrives on art house films, usually keeping the most successful releases running until just before DVD release. The Screen has hosted the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival since its inception in 2002, and in 2007 alone, 48 films were screened over the six days the venue was in use. Celebrity festival visitors have included Wim Wenders, Julie Walters, John Boorman, and Eduardo Noriega.