The Callao Cinema in Madrid pays tribute to the world of celluloid on its 90th birthday

Built in 1926 by Luis Gutiérrez Soto, the historic Cines Callao building is one of the greatest exponents of Art Deco architecture in the capital. It was inaugurated with the screening of the film 'Luis Candelas. The bandit of Madrid'.

The Callao Cinema, one of the most representative in Madrid, celebrated its 90th birthday in style with a great party in which tribute was paid to the world of celluloid. Well-known figures from cinema and entertainment attended the event in which there was no shortage of constant nods to the cinematographic world, while images were projected on the exterior screens of the emblematic building in Plaza del Callao that, thanks to the augmented reality technique, transported the audience in the square in Madrid in the 1920s, emulating a silent film of the time.

The film directors Fernando Colomo and Santiago Zannou, the president of the Film Academy and costume designer Yvonne Blake, the actors Fernando Guillén-Cuervo, Carlos Iglesias (actor and director), Elena Ballesteros, Guillermo Montesinos, Eva Marciel, Mario Zorrilla, Silvia Marsó, Mariano Peña, Manuel Tafallé, Alexandra Masagnkay, Yolanda Font, Elena Alférez, Azucena de la Fuente and Máximo Valverde, the stand-up comedians Luis Piedrahita and Flipi and the model María San Juan were some of the 430 guests who came to the Callao Cinema to celebrate this anniversary.

The event, hosted by presenter Carlos Sobera, included the screening of a commemorative video of the 90 years of history of Cine Callao - in which figures from the film industry, such as film director Chus Gutiérrez, producers Enrique Cerezo and Enrique López-Lavigne and actress Terele Pávez, among others, review the important role of this theater in the history of Madrid cinema—and the presentation of its new corporate image. In addition, attendees were able to take photos with some of the most popular characters and faces in the history of cinema who wandered through the room. Marilyn Monroe, Darth Vader, the Marx Brothers, Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, Indiana Jones and the character played by Uma Thurman in 'Kill Bill', posed with the guests at the party in which there was no shortage of music from well-known soundtracks cinematographic films, performed live by the band Spring Cuartet, and a huge birthday cake that those present could taste.

A film story

Built in 1926 by Luis Gutiérrez Soto, the historic Cines Callao building is one of the greatest exponents of Art Deco architecture in the capital. It was inaugurated as a movie theater on December 11 of that same year, with the broadcast of the film Luis Candelas. The bandit of Madrid.

Always at the forefront of culture, it was the first cinema in Spain to broadcast a talking and sound film, The Jazz Singer, on June 13, 1929, and also the first filmed in Spanish in Hollywood, The Body of the Crime, on May 21, 1930. Likewise, in 1935 the first color film in Spain was premiered at Cines Callao; and in 1953, the first 3D film.

The movie theater was designed in the purest American style of the time, that is, without aristocratic boxes and with full vision from all its seats, then 1,300. Its terrace, currently disused, was built to broadcast outdoor film sessions, which made it one of the first summer cinemas in Madrid.

Although initially the basement of the building was conceived to house a café or cabaret, it would eventually become a large billiard room, with 32 tables and an American bar, where a bartender served cocktails to customers. This space, which during the civil war served as a collective dining room, would be occupied, in the 70s, by the popular Xenon nightclub and party room, which in 1997 was converted into a movie theater.

Despite the years, the Callao Cinema, located in the third busiest square in Europe and the first in Spain (more than 113 million people circulate through this location every year), has been able to adapt to new times, renewing its facilities (currently divided into two rooms, with a combined capacity for more than 1,200 spectators) and incorporating the latest technological advances in sound, image and lighting.

Stage of the biggest premieres

Scene of the most important film premieres of all time, the biggest stars of national and international cinema of recent decades have paraded along the red carpet of the Callao Cinema (Tom Cruise, Will Smith, Bradley Cooper, Daniel Craig, Richard Gere, Jennifer Aniston, Salma Hayek, Antonio Banderas, Elsa Pataky, Mario Casas, or more recently, Brad Pitt and Penélope Cruz, among many others). Activity to which in recent years it has added the celebration of events of all kinds and the exhibition, on the two facades of the building, of cultural and commercial content through giant digital screens that, in 2011, replaced the classic posters that once announced films being shown.

Callao City Lights manages the Callao Cinemas space where the premieres and the most notable events that take place in Madrid take place. In addition, Callao City Lights is a pioneer in large-format digital advertising with its two large screens in the Callao Cinemas, to which on December 1 it added exclusive marketing of the Platea Madrid screens.

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