Hollywood Forever Cinema: the deathly place to watch a movie
Everyone knows the best part of the cinema experience is the atmosphere: the warm smell of popcorn and the hush as the lights go down. That excited energy is why movie theatres have endured as a mainstay in our cultural world, offering an entirely different viewing experience that can never be captured at home. But around the world, some screens take it to a whole new level, even six feet under.
When thinking about cinemas, the image that comes to mind is one of cosiness and comfort. They’re a place to go and hide for a while as you get to leave the real world and all its stresses behind. The big screen has a real sense of timelessness, as if the whole world stands still, and the audience is immortal for a while, letting life pass by as they’re fixated on the story.
At Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, they take that feeling even further as viewers sit alongside the dead. The cemetery projects classic movies onto the side of a mausoleum as one of the most unique movie theatres in the world.
As its name suggests, the graveyard is home to some of Hollywood’s biggest names. It’s the resting place of Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, the DeMille family, director Victor Fleming and more. In fact, the mausoleum that serves as the cinema screen houses the remains of silent film star Rudolph Valentino and actor Peter Finch. A place for fans to go and pay their respects, it’s truly sacred ground.
While the idea of sitting in a cemetery might feel morbid, there is something beautiful about Hollywood Forever Cemetery’s pop-up cinema. Even without the screen, people would no doubt visit the cemetery to see the resting place of their idols. It was always destined to end up as a tourist attraction, but the events make it more than that.
Changing the atmosphere from mourning into celebration, the film screenings are a way to reconnect the cemetery, the icons that rest in it, and their fans. It united past and present through mutual love and admiration for movies.
Cinephiles flock to the events with deck chairs, blankets and picnic baskets to enjoy classic films, modern cuts and cult flicks in the historic location. The cemetery’s Halloween screenings of horror movies are especially popular, really adding to the spookiness of the location.
Helping to encourage a different view of death and a different interaction with graveyards, the cinema at Hollywood Forever Cemetery is a celebration of creative lives. As possibly the best way to honour its inhabitants, the film screen makes them immortal.
