Fukaya Cinema, Movie theater in Fukaya, Japan
Fukaya Cinema is a movie theater in Fukaya, Saitama Prefecture, housed inside a former sake brewery. The screening room seats around 60 people and is equipped with both 35mm film and digital projection systems.
The building began as the Nanatsu-Ume sake brewery, founded in 1694, and kept its original structure across many generations. When sake production stopped, the space was converted into a cultural venue and eventually became a cinema.
The cinema screens international films each month that rarely appear elsewhere in the Kanto region. Two gallery spaces inside the building show work by local artists, drawing people who are interested in independent film and art together in the same place.
The venue is about a ten-minute walk from Fukaya Station on the JR Takasaki Line. The seats are compact, so visitors are welcome to bring their own blanket or use one of the blankets provided by the cinema.
Even though the cinema has digital equipment, most screenings are shown deliberately on 35mm film rather than through the digital system. The original wooden framework of the brewery is still visible inside the room, giving the space an appearance that no purpose-built cinema can replicate.
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