Cine-files: Cine Arte Normandie, Santiago de Chile

A cinema that's a throwback to another age, formerly viewed as 'a site of potential subversion'
Cine Arte Normandie
The Cine Arte Normandie: "a place of artistic and political refuge during the dictatorship." Photograph: Marianne Fuentealba

Nick MacWilliam is a Santiago-based immigrant Londoner and freelance writer. He is the editor of Revista Revolver, an online magazine devoted to Chile's alternative and independent cultural scene. He is also a regular contributor to Sounds and Colours, and various other websites and magazines that cover South America.

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In downtown Santiago three blocks directly south of Chile's presidential palace, La Moneda, most famous internationally for being the site of Pinochet's military coup against the socialist government of Salvador Allende. This is the Normandie's second home after it started life in Santiago's main thoroughfare, the Alameda, in 1982, before moving to the current spot in 1991. The original venue is now home to another local institution, the Centro Arte Alameda, a cinema, music venue and gallery.


The cinema occupies a shabby, older block that it shares with small shops and flats (the Normandie's neon sign is literally hanging on the outside of someone's bedroom window) and which is resisting the construction surge that has transformed Santiago in recent times. All around, nondescript tower blocks are being built as the centre rapidly loses its historical identity in the name of progress. The interior is like a throwback to another age: the brass and chrome-plated foyer, the one-clerk box office, the retro wallpaper. The cinema's only screen is located in a cavernous auditorium where the padded wooden seats and bare floors keep the temperature down: a welcome escape during Santiago's baking summer months; but in winter you'll probably want to keep your coat on.


All sorts of people come through the doors, ranging from the older filmgoers who've been frequenting the Normandie for over 30 years to the inhabitants of Santiago's modern hipster scene. Other indie cinemas such as the Biógrafo and the Alameda are situated in more fashionable areas, but the Normandie's prestige and diversity ensure that it still attracts the cool crowd. There are also matinee screenings that bring in kids and their parents, while the high residential population of the city centre ensures that there is a strong local customer base.


The name comes from the early days when the Normandie featured a lot of French films; these days it focuses more on Latin American cinema and the thriving national film industry, with a clear emphasis on providing an outlet for films ignored by the multiplex chains. There are usually one or two Chilean films on show plus something foreign, whether this is arthouse European fare, Asian epics or the more "independent" side of Hollywood, such as Silver Linings Playbook. Recent Chilean Oscar-nomination No enjoyed a longer run here than in any other cinema. There are also sometimes midnight horror screenings.

Further Comment

The Normandie is enshrined in Santiago cultural folklore due to its symbolism as a place of artistic and political refuge during the dictatorship. The authorities viewed it as a site of potential subversion and there were cases of the police entering in order to arrest members of the audience. It has been namechecked by seminal 80s new wavers Los Prisoneros in the song Porque No Se Van (Why Don't You Go?). The cinema featured in No director Pablo Larraín's earlier film Tony Manero, where the psychopathic John Travolta-idolising protagonist beats the elderly projectionist to death for having the temerity to show the scheduled film rather than Saturday Night Fever. As you do.

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