Catching up on more of the events of the past week, last Wednesday night was a red letter day for Stanley. Until now, if you wanted to see a film other than on your television (or computer via hard drive/extensive use of internet), it meant a drive of 1 hr along the MPA road to get to Mount Pleasant, getting a pass to go onto the base to visit the MPA cinema, followed by another 1 hr drive back to Stanley. Given that large sections of the MPA road are unsurfaced and strong winds and bad weather can often make driving the road difficult, going to the cinema is more of an expedition than a casual afternoon pastime.
Over the past few months though, building works have been taking place at the Malvina House Hotel on a cinema for Stanley. After many rumours as to when works would be completed, we were wondering whether it would be finished before the end of our time here. It was a very welcome surprise to be invited to the grand opening last Wednesday as a result. We were certainly invited by virtue of Richard’s impending new job as the Falkland Islands Representative to the UK, but we equally certainly weren’t going to pass up the opportunity to see the new cinema.
The whole experience was fantastic. From the moment we walked in both myself and a close friend of mine here commented that it smelt like a proper cinema as on climbing the stairs to the foyer the smell that hit us was freshly popped popcorn. Inside, there were plush seats (with cup holders and fold out tables), surround sound and the first adult film we have seen in the cinema for approximately 9 years. For the past 9 years, unless the film has a cartoon animal/pet in it or lego, we haven’t seen it at the cinema. Seeing Green Book, a film that I expect most readers of this blog saw when it first came out, was a real treat. It also happened to be a great film, which I’ve added to our list of repeat watch films.
We also learnt at the grand opening how important the new cinema is to the Falkland Islands. It is hard to think when you live in the UK that there are still people in a western country who have never seen a cinema. In the Falklands though this is still the case as if you don’t have your own transport or other easy access to MPA, there is no means of seeing the cinema here.
Now, with the new cinema, several people who have never had the chance to see a film in the cinema have now experienced it. We were told at the opening how earlier in the week testing of the cinema had included showing a film to the Acorns, a Falklands group for elderly and vulnerable residents. For several of them, this was their first cinematic experience and they had thought that they would die without ever seeing a film at the cinema.
This week, it’s been the turn of all the school children, who have been taken in groups to see “Missing Link”. According to Alexander the new cinema is the best cinema he’s ever been in, better than any cinema in the UK. It would have been even better if the visit had included a tub of popcorn or ice-cream, though from a parental perspective I’m very pleased they didn’t feed them popcorn or ice-cream and send them home to bounce off the walls.
Meanwhile, we’re looking forward to hopefully getting tickets for Toy Story 4 and several other films before our time here comes to an end.
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Five penguins and us 