40 year anniversary Filmhuis Cavia

For 40 years, a small, non-commercial, community-based art house cinema has been located at the Van Hallstraat, hiding above a boxing gym. A place whose film program is varied and unique, specialising in independent, marginalised and forgotten films. The DNA of Filmhuis Cavia encompasses everything from thought-provoking documentaries to the queerest of porn films. 

Filmhuis Cavia was (legally) founded in 1983, after a neighbourhood festival showed the promise of the cinema space – inspired by the squatters movement. At that time, a unique squatters’ culture had emerged in the Staatsliedenbuurt (it was nicknamed ‘Kraakliedenbuurt’) due to the many squatters who came to live there and who started all kinds of social, cultural, political, and environmental initiatives (such as Zaal100 and De Blauwe Duim). In 1983, the first edition of the Staatsliedengreep festival took place and for a whole week activities were held throughout the entire neighbourhood. As a part of the festival, in the monumental building on Van Hallstraat 52, which was once a skipper’s boarding school and later became the home of several film-related organisations, thirty three film screenings took place in the projection room of Fugitive Cinema Holland and Amsterdams Stadsjournaal. The screenings were a success, and from there an opportunity arose to start a cinema. Filmhuis Cavia was born! 

In these 40 years of history, Cavia served as a springboard for many film festivals and events. A space made for and by its community, it has undeniably been at the heart of the city’s alternative culture. Since covid, Cavia has also turned itself towards its own legacy, and the current volunteers have been investigating the history of the cinema and the people behind its foundation. In parallel to screening films, either on 35mm, 16mm or digital, in the spirit of its anniversary month, we are looking for information from collaborators, artists and audience members from the present and the past. 

From the 3rd to the 12th November 2023 Filmhuis Cavia will celebrate its forty year anniversary alongside partners in the neighbourhood. Zaal100 and the Tweede Nassau Ateliers will join the fun by respectively hosting Cavia’s anniversary club night and an open studios afternoon, with works by local artists. Cavia itself will host several screenings reflecting our diverse history, the dynamic film selections, and of course, filmmakers from The Netherlands and abroad who have inspired us. The curated films both historical and contemporary, will highlight Cavia’s long commitment to cinema as a political, irreverent art form. We will use these festivities to launch a crowdfunding campaign for a book project that will pay homage to the forty years of history and the cinema’s impact on the neighbourhood. 

For more information on how to join in or to to contribute to Cavia’s History Project, please visit our website at filmhuiscavia.nl