Where to Watch a Film in Auckland

Auckland lost a lot of cinemas. The ones still standing survived by being worth the trip in a way a shopping-centre screen never is, and a couple of them are among the most beautiful buildings in the country.

Here are our picks, away from the mall multiplexes.

On now: the NZIFF

Whānau Mārama New Zealand International Film Festival runs in Auckland from 29 July to 9 August. That's the main run, and it's the part that includes The Civic, alongside Hollywood Avondale, Rialto Newmarket, Academy Cinemas, Bridgeway, The Lido and SkyCity Theatre.

It then carries on from 10 to 16 August as a smaller programme. Hollywood Avondale, Rialto Newmarket, Bridgeway and the Academy run right through; The Civic, The Lido and SkyCity finish on the 9th. If the building is the reason you're going, the first window is the one that matters.

And if you miss something entirely, the festival runs at Matakana from 27 August to 9 September.

A batch of films was added to the programme on 31 July, after most people had already made their plans. If you booked early, look again.

The one worth rearranging your week for is The Piano, screening at Hollywood Avondale. Jane Campion's 1993 film was shot largely at Karekare, out on Auckland's west coast, and it's screening back out west. Seeing it there is a different proposition to watching it at home.

Also added: The Chronology of Water, Kristen Stewart's first film as director, and Palestine 36 from Annemarie Jacir.

Programme and tickets at nziff.co.nz.

Where the festival is screening

Seven venues, and these are the ones worth choosing on the building alone.

The Civic

The most spectacular room you can watch a film in anywhere in the country, and there aren't many like it left in the world either.

It opened in December 1929, and Heritage New Zealand rates it the largest atmospheric cinema ever built in Australasia and the first purpose-built one in the country. There are only around seven left anywhere in the world.

It nearly went. A campaign saved it in the 1990s, and it reopened in 1999 after a restoration costing tens of millions.

The practical effect is that arriving early isn't a chore here. Give yourself half an hour and spend it looking up. Most people who go to a film spend the wait staring at a phone in a foyer, and at the Civic that's a waste of the ticket.

It's been the Auckland home of the film festival for decades, and it's where opening night happens. If you only get to one festival screening a year, make it one here.

Hollywood Avondale

If you've never been, go. The building does most of the work before a single frame is projected.

It's an old suburban picture house, restored rather than modernised, with the period detail kept where it counts. You come up a set of chequered tiled stairs to get in, and by the time you reach the top you've stopped thinking about the fact that you drove to Avondale. It's moody in a way new cinemas can't manufacture. Warm, worn in the right places, and full of character.

It was properly busy when we went to watch one of the NZIFF screenings, with a real queue at the counter. Good sign for a suburban cinema. Bad sign if you've arrived five minutes before your film.

What they serve: a proper drinks list, alcoholic and non-alcoholic, plus a limited range of Duck Island ice cream.

On the popcorn: ours wasn't great. In fairness they were having trouble with it that night and had nearly run out by the time we reached the front, so this may not be representative. But we'd rather tell you.

Where to sit: the circle. The tiering up there is properly stepped and the view was perfect. The stalls looked considerably flatter, and we'd think twice about booking down there if you're short or if a tall person might land in front of you. If the circle is available when you're picking seats, take it.

Bridgeway, Northcote

Four screens, arthouse and documentary programming, and the most accessible cinema on this list. Level street access, a lift to the upstairs screens, and assistive listening available. It's won industry awards for independent cinema more than once.

The Lido, Epsom

Art deco frontage, a mix of mainstream and independent programming, and a regular line in filmed opera and theatre broadcasts.

Not festival venues. Go anyway.

The festival doesn't reach every good cinema in Auckland. These three are worth your time whatever's on.

The Vic, Devonport

A declaration of bias before we start: this was my local as a kid. I saw the first Jurassic Park here, and because of that film I screamed out loud in this room. I've spent the years since working in visual effects, so it's possible the whole career was decided sitting in one of these seats.

The Vic opened on Victoria Road in 1912 and is the oldest surviving purpose-built cinema in the Southern Hemisphere. It seated close to a thousand people in the silent era, survived a fire in 1924, the arrival of talkies, and four decades under Kerridge Odeon. Then in the early 2000s it was going to be apartments. A community trust of local people formed, took a long-term lease from the council, and reopened it in 2010. It's Heritage New Zealand Category 1, Auckland Council owns the building, and the trust still runs it and still fundraises to keep it going.

The lobby is proper art deco and genuinely lovely. It isn't big, and it doesn't need to be.

The cinema itself has a musty smell. There, we've said it. There are also vintage cushions on the seats, and the two facts are probably related. Consider it part of the deal.

The ice cream is a big part of why we keep going back. The lobby does pre-made dipped gelato cones, properly done, in chocolate or chocolate and nuts. Round on the street there's a hole-in-the-wall kiosk selling the same gelato scooped to order. Best ice cream in Devonport, and we go for it whether or not we're seeing a film. If you're on Victoria Road and not going to the pictures, go anyway.

The Capitol, Balmoral

An art deco single-screener on Dominion Road, and the smallest room on this list by some margin.

There's one theatre of roughly 130 seats, done in purple and gold with chandeliers, and the programming is the most committed arthouse offering in the city — foreign festival winners, cult classics, and season-long runs devoted to a single director or genre.

Berkeley Mission Bay

Art deco, on the waterfront, and the reason to go is the setting as much as the film.

It opened in December 1937 as a single-screen house of around seven hundred seats, and the cinema now occupies the upper floor of that original building, with restaurants at street level. The entrance is easy to walk past. A wide staircase takes you up to a large foyer, and the four screens are small and comfortable. It's licensed, and the programming leans further toward arthouse than you'd expect.

Worth knowing that it's Hoyts-owned now, having been bought along with the rest of the Berkeley group in 2010. The building is the draw.

Free parking off Patterson Ave, and the Tamaki Link stops nearby.

Good to know if you're doing the festival

Arrive earlier than you think, especially at The Civic and Hollywood Avondale. Both reward turning up with time to look at the building, and both have queues that will otherwise eat that time.

Check which venue your session is at before you leave the house. The programme moves between seven cinemas across the city, and Avondale to Newmarket is not a mistake you want to make with fifteen minutes in hand.

Watch the 9 August cut-off. The Civic, The Lido and SkyCity finish then. Everything after that is Hollywood Avondale, Rialto Newmarket, Bridgeway and the Academy.