Filmhuis Cavia (Amsterdam)
Address: Van Hallstraat 52-I / 1051 HH Amsterdam / The Netherlands
Email: info at filmhuiscavia.nl
Contact: +31 20 68 11 419
www.filmhuiscavia.nl
1 screen, 40 seats
Tech : 35mm, 16mm, BluRay, DVD, video, but we’ll also try to provide equipment if there is a request for 8mm or Betacam
History : Filmhuis Cavia was founded in 1983 by the squat movement in Amsterdam-West after it had been a boarding school for skippers for a long time. We are not sure where the name Cavia (it means guinea pig) stems from, but we presume it is either short for ‘Cultural Audio Visual Center Amsterdam’ or derived from ‘Collective Audio Visual Cafe Amsterdam’. In the same building there is a boxing school, a film casting company and some film production and distributions organizations.
Organisational structure : The squat house has been legalized and we now pay rent for it monthly to the township. Legally it is a foundation with a board that consists of people who work at the cinema as well. We only work with volunteers, usually around 18-20.
Editorial Line : We like screening old and new, groundbreaking and unseen films with special attention to small films, made by debutant or local filmmakers. We also have a preference for screening film on film.
Regularity : Three to four evenings a week, usually only one screening a night
Other stuff : Sometimes we program music, debates or parties, but they are always related to what we are screening before or after.
Publicity : We have a website, Twitter, Facebook, we make flyers and we are connected to a digital network of art house cinemas in the Netherlands called Cineville. This is a website that keeps a calendar of all screenings in art house films in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Delft.
Audience : Our visitors are men and women (slightly more men) between 20 and 50 years old, mostly local (Amsterdam-West), but also from other parts of town and even others parts of the Netherlands. Most visitors have a job, are in-between-jobs or students. A high percentage of our visitors are new at every screening which indicates a niche audience. We attract cinefils and culturally educated people.
Funding : We receive a yearly subsidy from the township of Amsterdam-West. Other than that we rent out our space for screenings or child’s parties.