Cinema Ida is a monthly neighbourhood supper club showcasing the best of Italian and Italian-inspired movies in Queens Park.
Each three course menu takes its inspiration from the sights and sounds of the film, so that guests have the chance to sample the delights of Italy’s endlessly varied cuisines, whilst the landscape of that region unfolds before their eyes.
Cinema Ida harks back to the early days of movie theatres where audiences experienced films so intensely that it was not unusual for members of the public to shout encouragement or disapproval at the screen.
There is even a (possibly apocryphal) tale which states that during a Sicilian screening of a Spaghetti Western called Il Grande Silenzio, one audience member fired a pistol at the screen, such was his disappointment at the film’s ending!
In conventional film screenings, the magic dissipates once the lights come up and viewers file out of the theatre and into the night. But, at Cinema Ida, the magic lasts that bit longer: an intensely communal experience where you get to eat good food, discuss the film with your neighbours and while away a Sunday evening in Ida’s cosy, candlelit dining room.
