Cine Doré has operated at the corner of Calle Santa Isabel and Calle de la Rosa in Lavapiés since 1923. The building's facade is one of Madrid's better pieces of early twentieth century commercial architecture — a narrow decorated front in a neighbourhood that has otherwise been subject to considerable change. The interior retains the balcony and the proportions of a single-screen repertory cinema; the Filmoteca Española, Spain's national film archive, has operated here since 1989, programming retrospectives, restored prints, and director cycles that the multiplex system cannot accommodate. There is a bookshop attached to the lobby that carries film criticism, cinema history, and Spanish-language film publications; it opens before the screenings and is worth arriving early for. The admission prices are municipal rather than commercial, which allows the programming to take risks that a commercial venue cannot.
Lavapiés, Madrid, Spain