Broadway Cinematheque

Broadway Cinematheque
Broadway Cinematheque
	Broadway Cinematheque, Yau Ma Tei
General information
Address	Prosperous Garden, 3 Public Square Street, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Opened	20 November 1996; 28 years ago
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Gary Chang (EDGE Design Institute)
Website
	bc.cinema.com.hk
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	百老匯電影中心
Simplified Chinese	百老汇电影中心
Hanyu Pinyin	Bǎilǎohuì Diànyǐng Zhōngxīn
Yale Romanization	Baaklóuhwuih Dihnyíng Jūngsām
Jyutping	baak3 lou5 wui6 din6 jing2 zung1 sam1

Broadway Cinematheque (Chinese: 百老匯電影中心) is a cinema in Yau Ma Tei, Hong Kong, run by Broadway Circuit. Located in Prosperous Garden, a public housing estate, the cinema screens a wider spectrum of films including independent and art films than other cinemas in Hong Kong. The cinema hosts four houses with 476 seats (115 normal seats + 4 wheelchair seats per house). It also has a book store, Kubrick, which specializes in books about films, and has a café adjacent to it.

History

Broadway Cinematheque's building was designed by Gary Chang, who founded the EDGE Design Institute in 1994.^[1] The cinema opened on 20 November 1996, the day of the Garley Building fire in the adjoining Jordan neighbourhood, and as a result business on its first day was quite poor.^[2]

The cinema's initial strategy of showing only art film proved to be unsustainable, and so around 2000 it began showing mainstream films on two of its four screens. It is owned by Edko Films, which according to Broadway Cinematheque director Gary Mak is content for the cinema to break even in order to grow an audience for non-mainstream film in Hong Kong.^[3]^[4] It has served as a venue for film festivals such as the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival.^[5]

References

^ "「蝸居權威」張智強：奇則是寶！". Hong Kong Economic Journal. 3 April 2017. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
^ 梁俊鵬 [Leung Chun-pang] (28 November 2006). "由帶位員到經理電影中心拾級而上" [From usher to manager: climbing the ranks at the Cinematheque]. Apple Daily. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
^ 黄静利 [Huang Jingli] (15 July 2017). "百老汇电影中心：这个地方，不会嘲笑文青" [Broadway Cinematheque: a place that won't laugh at cultured youths]. New Weekly [zh]. No. 495. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
^ Kerr, Elisabeth (23 November 2016). "Broadway Star: Gary Mak, the man behind Hong Kong's last arthouse cinema". Zolima Citymag. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
^ 陳奉京 [Chan Fung-king]; 鄺曉恩 [Kwong Hiu-yan] (29 August 2016). "另類戲院缺乏存在空間　影迷︰應培養群眾看非主流的習慣" [Alternative cinemas lack space to exist; cinephiles: must cultivate masses' habit of watching non-mainstream cinema]. HK01. Retrieved 10 October 2018.