Efforts to reboot Aberdeen’s Belmont Cinema have ramped up with an architect appointed to reimagine the historic filmhouse.
Tinto Architecture and Interiors has been recruited to help make the Belmont Street venue the “number one destination” for the region’s film fans.
Boss Richard Tinto hopes that a design paying home to the “golden era of Hollywood”, a time when “everyone went to the cinema”, will rekindle those glory days.
It comes as the Belmont Community Cinema group surges forward with its aims to have the building reopened within about a year.
How will Belmont Cinema architect reimagine cherished venue?
The Aberdeen institution closed in autumn 2022.
It wasn’t until about a year later that the community-focussed group of movie fans were declared the preferred operator to bring it back to life.
Appointing Richard Tinto as the official Belmont Cinema architect is a milestone in their quest.
Richard previously worked with the group on concept designs that helped persuade Aberdeen City Council to entrust them with the building’s future.
The visionary will now oversee plans for a new-look cafe bar, and a filmmaking education space on the top floor.
Sheltering under the Belmont Cinema canopy on a grey Aberdeen day, beside an 18-month old poster for Mrs Harris Goes to Paris, Richard shared some of his ideas.
‘Revamped Belmont Cinema can help city centre bounce back’
Richard, who has a “passion for regeneration”, wants to Belmont to become an attraction drawing people to the city centre.
He said: “Places like this, where people come together, are fundamental.
“We want people to be able to happily spend a day in town, and this can be a huge part of that.”
Richard explains that the team are keen to capture something of “the golden age of cinema”…
‘This has been a cinema for a century’
He explains: “We want to be quite consistent in the theme, recognising that cinematic experience that came in its golden age, when everyone went to the pictures.
“We want to celebrate that, and educate people on it.
“This has been a cinema on and off for 100 years, it will be a celebration of that – and of cinema itself… That captures the imagination.”
Belmont Community Cinema trustee Jacob Campbell said the architect showed “similar passion” for the project – and a “deep-rooted understanding of its significance”.
What changes would you like to see in a reopened Belmont Cinema? Let us know in our comments section below
Industry veteran to star as project manager in cinema’s revamp
Meanwhile, industry expert Rob Kenny has been appointed as project manager for the refurbishment.
Mr Kenny was previously director of cinema operations for the arthouse Curzon chain, which has venues across the UK.
He promised to help turn the Belmont into a “first-class independent cinema”.
Trustee for the Belmont Community Cinema Ltd group, Dallas King, said the new recruits would help “realise their vision” of making the picturehouse “the destination for film in Aberdeen and the north-east”.
Learn more about how you can support the campaign to reopen the Belmont Cinema here.
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