Last week, The Guardian published an article written by Tom Shone titled Covid was supposed to kill cinema – but did lockdown and gen Z save cinephilia? about the successful box office results for repertory screenings in the UK with an increase in numbers of young audiences at these screenings.

Whilst I don’t agree that Gen Z is “saving cinephilia” (what about all the Gen X and Millennial cinephiles who also show up in large numbers, and have been for years?) it is great to know that the 20somethings of today are showing up, even it they’re “sporting a Mubi tote bag”.

The article included, “Research commissioned by classic film distributors Park Circus found that the UK and Ireland market for classic movies in 2022 and 2023 had grown 139% since 2019.”

In the UAE and across the Gulf region, repertory screening has a very long way to go, not a single cinema exists in the region that has dedicated programming for classic cinema.

Occasionally a classic film or a season will be announced with a random selection of films put together, and generally these screenings come and go mostly without a big enough audience.

In January, Roxy Cinemas had a season titled “Need for Speed Film Festival” that included Top Gun (1986), Senna (2010), Rush (2013) alongside newer titles like Ford v Ferrai (2019), Gran Turismo (2023), Ferrai (2024), Race for Glory: Audi vs. Lancia (2024). When I went to watch Senna, I walked out 20 mins later, the version they screened was a pirated ripped copy, a watermark from the website it was downloaded from was clearly visible. Their explanation for not showing it in a proper and official DCP format is because it isn’t available, which is not true. I asked for a refund.

In April, also at Roxy Cinemas, they screened The Karate Kid (1984), Ghostbusters (1984), My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997), As Good as It Gets (1997) - part of a program celebrating 100 Years of Columbia Pictures, although it was promoted as “Sony's 100th Anniversary at Roxy Cinemas”. I was the only one at these screenings.

Other multiplexes like Vox, Star and Novo ‘re-released’ a few Indian films like Karan Arjun (1995), Indian (1996), Veer-Zaara (2004). These cinemas should ‘re-release’ older Indian films every week in my opinion. I had a very good time watching all three films, especially Karan Arjun which was wild, and for a change, I wasn’t the only one at all these screenings.

In May, I watched Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid with a live music orchestra at Dubai Opera and I really do wish more of this kind of programming happened there.
Rep screenings at Alliance Francaise Dubai are becoming less and less, this year I only watched two, both by François Truffaut, The Story of Adele H. (1975) and Small Change (1976), the later is an absolute gem and I was genuinely sad that I was the only one at that screening.

Louvre Abu Dhabi showed 2001: A Space Odyssey outdoors, projected on “on its façade”.

They did the same thing last year for a few Bollywood classics. The museum has a nicely designed indoor auditorium that seats 270 people with a good quality screen and sound system. I still don’t understand why they’ve stopped using it to show films, instead of treating films (especially a film like this) as background fillers whilst people eat and drink, just like how people watch films on Netflix at home.

Felt aghast when I saw these images on Instagram, but I suppose this is why they screen films this way, to share images like these.

Also on Instagram, this showed up on my feed one day advertising “Move on Screen”, a film series “dedicated to Dance (and) Film” organised by the Goethe-Institut Gulf Region and the French Institute in the UAE which took place in Dubai and Sharjah between October 28 - November 28 at the Sharjah Performing Arts Academy, Cinema Akil at 25H Hotel, and Alliance Française Dubai.
Two issues with what’s shown on this image of Cinema Akil’s marquee at 25hours Hotel, where films are also shown outdoors not far from the driveway leading to a parking lot:
- The quote is not from The Red Shoes, which I’ve watched 3 times. I looked up the quote and found out it was said by Gene Kelly.
- The Red Shoes, which by the way does not star Gene Kelly, was not even part of the Move on Screen film program

So I don’t know even know what is going on here.

All of the above is to say that is why I travel frequently, because this cinephile isn’t getting her repertory cinema fix at home.

Some of my rep highlights of the year:

Between February and March I watched these films by Claire Denis in Berlin and Amsterdam:
Friday Night (2002), Chocolat (1988), No Fear No Die (1990), Beau Travail (1999, and always happy to get a chance tp rewatch this in a cinema), Trouble Everyday (2001)
After Jonathan Glazer’s acceptance speech at the Oscar’s for winning Best International Feature for The Zone of Interest and the despicable backlash by people in Hollywood over it, I became a bigger fan of him and was happy I got to see two of his older films that I’ve been wanting to watch for a very long time, Sexy Beast (2000) at Lab111 and Birth (2004) on 35mm at Eye Filmmuseum, and also a rewatch of Under the Skin (2013).
Il Cinema Ritrvato in Bologna is my annual “inject this directly into my veins” fix of repertory screenings, wrote about this year’s edition here.
When I found out Eyefilmmusem will have a Powell & Pressburger retrospective in September, I knew that’s where I wanted to spend my birthday week - what better cinema gift can I ask for.
I was happy to watch films I missed from the retrospective last year at the BFI, The Spy in Black (1939), Gone to Earth (1950), The Tales of Hoffman (1951), Peeping Tom (1960).
And was happy to rewatch a few favourites too, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), I Know Where I’m Going (1945), The Red Shoes (1948), and Black Narcissus (1947) in London a few days before I went to Amsterdam.
I also watched two Gena Rowlands films that month, Minnie and Moskowitz (1971), Love Streams (1984). I also finally got to see Showgirls (1995) in a cinema and was very happy to watch a 10am screening of Barry Lyndon (1975), a perfect time to watch this film.
Went back again to Amsterdam in December to catch some of the Satyajit Ray retrospective and wish I could’ve stayed longer to see more of his films. I watched Pathar Panchali (1955), The Music Room (1958), The Big City (1963), Charulata (1964), The Elephant God (1979)
This was followed by a week in December where I had a terrific time watching a great selection of classics at various cinemas:
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
The Brighton Strangler (1945, 35mm)
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946, 35mm)
Bell, Book and Candle (1958)
The Cousins (1959, 35mm)
The Leopard (1963)
Woman in the Dunes (1964, 35mm)
My Night at Maud’s (1969)
Tere Mere Sapne (1971)
Torch Song Trilogy (1988, 35mm)
Smooth Talk (1985)
Cinema Paradiso (1988)
Eyes Wide Shut (1999) - I’d be happy to watch this film every December in a cinema.
You’ve Got Mail (1998, 35mm)
Notes on a Scandal (2006,35mm)

The following is a ranked list of 35 favourite film discoveries in alphabetical order, except number 1 which was my top film discovery this year, Powell and Pressburger never disappoint, and discovering films by Kōzaburō Yoshimura at Il Cinema Ritrovato was another top highlight, 4 of them listed below.

Gone to Earth (Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, 1950, 35mm)
Alice in the Cities (Wim Wenders, 1974)
Bell, Book and Candle (1958)
The Big City (Satyajit Ray, 1963)
Birth (Jonathan Glazer, 2004, 35mm)
Bob Roberts (Tim Robbins, 1992, 35mm)
Bona (Lino Brocka, 1990)
City for Conquest (Anatole Litvak, Jean Negulesco, 1940, 35mm)
Daybreak Express (D. A. Pennebaker, 1953)
Four Nights of a Dreamer (Robert Bresson, 1971)
Golden Eighties (Chantal Akerman, 1986)
Hope and Glory (John Boorman, 1987, 35mm)
Hue and Cry (Charles Crichton, 1947, 35mm)
Karan Arjun (Rakesh Roshan, 1995)
The Kid (Charlie Chaplin, 1921)
The Leopard (Luchino Visconti, 1963)
Lights (Marie Menken, 1966)
Love Streams (John Cassavetes, 1984)
Maya Miriga (Nirad N. Mahapatra, 1984)
Minnie and Moskowitz (John Cassavetes, 1971)
Morocco (Josef von Sternberg, 1930)
My Night at Maud’s (Éric Rohmer, 1969)
The Night (Mohammad Malas, 1992, 35mm)
The Naked Face of Night / The Ladder of Success (Kōzaburō Yoshimura, 1958, 35mm)
Night River / Undercurrent (Kōzaburō Yoshimura, 1956)
No Fear, No Die (Claire Denis, 1990)
People on Sunday (Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer, 1930, 35mm)
Sexy Beast (Jonathan Glazer, 2000)
Sisters of Nishijin (Kōzaburō Yoshimura, 1952, 35mm)
Small Change (François Truffaut, 1976)
Stars in Broad Daylight (Ossama Mohammed, 1988)
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (Sydney Pollack, 1969)
Torch Song Trilogy (Paul Bogart, 1988, 35mm)
Veer-Zaara (Yash Chopra, 2004)
A Woman’s Uphill Slope (Kōzaburō Yoshimura, 1960, 35mm)

Favourite Repertory Screenings of 2024