Guerrilla Petrol Station Cinema

Under the name of Cineroleum, a collective of young artists, designers and architects has transformed an abandoned petrol station on Clerkenwell Road in London into a temporary pop-up cinema.

The film theater is hand-built and primarily constructed using donated and found materials. Cineroleum is a traditionally designed cinema — “an improvisation of the decadent interiors that greeted audiences during cinema’s golden age. Popcorn, paper tickets, elaborate signage and flip-down seats will collectively recreate the familiar excitement of cinema-going. (…) With 4,000 petrol stations currently lying derelict in the UK, this pilot project demonstrates the potential for their transformation as exciting and unusual spaces for public use.” Tickets for the guerrilla cinema are just 5 euros.

Enclosed by an ornate curtain strung from the forecourt roof, the Cineroleum will host screenings from sundown four nights a week. With a programme of off-beat classics that celebrate the social experience of watching the big screen, stars from Buster Keaton to Barbarella will flicker, dance and shoot their way over the Cineroleum screen. Just as the drive-ins of 1950’s America brought cinema out from its enclosures and into suburbia, the Cineroleum will be a street-side cinema that is truly exposed to the city. Click here to view photos of the design and building process of the cinema.