Background
Background information and history lesson
Filmhuis Cavia has been showing special films with a minimal budget on a non-profit base for more than 40 years at a special location in Amsterdam, namely the old Prinses Beatrix Schippers boarding school between Van Hallstraat and De Kempenaerstraat, which we share with many artists and a kickboxing school.
Filmhuis Cavia was founded in 1983 from the squatters' movement in the Staatsliedenbuurt. Nobody knows where the name 'Cavia' comes from, but it is suggested that it is derived from the former name Cultural Audiovisual Center Amsterdam (CAVCA) or Kollektief Audiovisual Kafé Amsterdam (KAFKA).
With only 40 seats, we are one of the smallest cinemas in the Netherlands, and the smallest in Amsterdam. We still show some of our films on 16 and 35 mm. All employees are volunteers from the very beginning. Filmhuis Cavia sticks to the do-it-yourself mentality of the squatters' movement. Which means that we do everything ourselves, including repairs. Cavia is a non-profit organization and receives a subsidy from the West district.
In the past 40 years, Filmhuis Cavia has set up many film initiatives around the world and we have trained many people to become film operators and programmers. Festivals that once started small in Cavia are, for example, Roze Filmdagen, CinemAsia and KLIK! Animatiefestival.
Filmhuis Cavia presents a wide range of contemporary independent cinema from all over the world, artists' films and historical films, both canonical and marginalized. Cavia also regularly organizes film evenings in the field of sexual and/or gender diversity.
Every summer, Filmhuis Cavia screens films for the neighbourhood in/near Amsterdam West, at beautiful partner locations.
Cavia is a member of the Cinevillepas, and can be visited for accessible prices with tickets costing only 5 euros (film clubs even 3 euros).
Another fun fact to conclude:
The movie theater only held 39 seats for a long time, because according to a myth, a movie theater with fewer than 40 seats was legally allowed to pass for sex cinema. However, this story is somewhat outdated. The legislation in this area is slightly different: it was forbidden to show unapproved hard porn films in regular cinemas. That was only allowed in sex cinemas and a cinema with more than 50 seats was not allowed to be a sex cinema.
Cavia could therefore legally add another 10 chairs, but this would not have fit in our room – of the smallest and most charming cinema in Amsterdam.
Photo by Guillermo Florez
Projecten & partners
Cavia is part of Cineville and Amsterdam Alternative.
Thanks to
Filmhuis Cavia is being supported by Gemeente Amsterdam.
