For a long time subtitled versions have been conspicuous by their absence at cinemas in Madrid. These films were relegated to film libraries or small cinema-studios that were then branded with the rather mundane name of art-house films. During this period people used to study philosophy and arts, and men dressed in grey used to greet you with a long black device usually known as a truncheon when you left the cinema. If you had a beard, a smoking pipe, horn-rimmed glasses and you were carrying a book under your arm, you belonged to the class of people susceptible to be beaten.

That period passed by, and going to the cinema to watch a film in its original language stopped being a subtitled adventure at cinemas known as progressive and intellectual odeons and converted itself into the ideal formula for the early Erasmus students and the best way to see films just how the director and the actors wanted them to be when they made them. It is true that at the beginning, as well as subtitles, these cinemas also included contents and images that would not have been very worthy of a cinema on the Gran Vía. One only has to remember the name of the films that were shown at indescribable Alphaville. Right of the bat I can remember beautiful Divine in John Water's Pink Flamingos or the fantastic Liquid Sky where aliens fed on human orgasms thanks to Slava Tsukerman.

These cinemas also used to be a platform for Spanish authors that due to contents or distribution problems were relegated to small cinemas with hardly any seating capacity, but that were totally committed to the seventh art. We are talking about Almodóvar in his early years, Ripstein, Chus Gutiérrez or Argentine Adolfo Aristarain and many other directors that now hobnob with the most important stars in Hollywood.

Until not long ago these cinemas were standard bearers of a type of cinema that was impossible to find at commercial cinemas in Madrid, unless you travelled from festival to festival looking for good foreign movies. The American Indie scene, Eastern directors, the new Oriental cinema and many other cinematographic trends were first shown to Madrid at these innovating cinemas with late-night shows and plentiful information on a technical specifications sheet, with interviews and opinions on the film in question.

The existence of these cinemas is totally indispensable for the delight of the art of cinema and for the long-suffering audience, who has the peremptory need to widen its sights and to enjoy good films on a big screen. And if the film has subtitles, even better. Increase your visual acuity and update your knowledge on foreign languages.

If you want to see the full screening times of the cinemas that show films in their original language click here: see List of Cinemas that show films in their original language in Madrid.

See List of Films in their original language in Madrid

Texts: Elías Zapata