Popcorn and circumstance
In a neighborhood overflowing with public art, it’s a little tougher to find a place where the art is inside the building, rather than on it. Nestled between a small film-production warehouse, and an even smaller single-family home, is O Cinema.
The venue maintains a quiet presence in a neighborhood that prides itself on being loud. The exterior’s garage door is graffitied over; it’s a necessary homage to the community it resides in. The theater’s immediate interior is bare bones, with stark black walls and plain white floors. An unadorned concession counter, with a wall of stacked crates filled with soft drinks in plain sight, greets guests immediately as they walk through the front door. Vegan muffins, cookies, and granola bars take the place of the standard Sno-Caps and gummy bears. That unmistakable popcorn smell radiates from the tiny popcorn machine sitting at the edge of the counter and fills the lobby, as proper movie-house protocol calls for.
Info
Address 90 NW 29th Street, Miami, FL 33127, +1 305.571.9970, www.o-cinema.org | Hours Opens 1 hour before the day’s first film (check website for showtimes)| Tip After catching a movie at O Cinema, head down to the Electric Pickle (2826 N Miami Ave) for a nightcap. The Wynwood bar and music club describes itself as a “liquor-fueled love machine.”
The corner areas of the lobby walls are reserved for displaying the work of local artists. In the hallway that leads to the rear of the theater, you’ll find another impromptu gallery, about the size of a water closet. In the next room over, there’s a compact reading space with a quirky selection of titles, ranging from picture books documenting the Cuban Revolution to Judy Blume’s Superfudge to Kafka’s The Metamorphosis.
The curation of films is equally eclectic, much like the Thalia or Film Forum programs in New York City during the 1980s. Screenings might include Charlie Chaplin’s Gold Rush one week and the eighties kid classic Land Before Time the next. O Cinema is the place to go to catch the Oscar-nominated shorts and other independent features and documentaries you won’t find in the mainstream multiplexes. It’s unique in its cultivation of film, art, and literature, all under one roof.
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