Your
Belmont
Memories
Two Distinct Memories
"I have many great memories of The Belmont, but two stand out. The first was watching a film by Swedish film maker Roy Andersson, called A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence. With a title like that, I felt I had to see it. I had no knowledge of Anderssons prior work, and read a review which said that it was heavily influenced by surrealist film maker Luis Bunuel. And it was very similar, except it was a bit of a slog. There were three of us in the cinema, however what Ive never forgotten is one of them got up and left the cinema with about five minutes to go! I was a bit astonished, but then I thought maybe Roy Andersson would appreciate this, because like his film, it was a very surreal moment.
Second memory was in the Cinema One watching the Joy Division documentary. I was the only person in the cinema for the duration. First and only time it has ever happened, and although enjoyable, I hope this doesn't happen with the proposed new Belmont."
John Leslie
Share Your Memory
Two Distinct Memories
"I have many great memories of The Belmont, but two stand out. The first was watching a film by Swedish film maker Roy Andersson, called A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence. With a title like that, I felt I had to see it. I had no knowledge of Anderssons prior work, and read a review which said that it was heavily influenced by surrealist film maker Luis Bunuel. And it was very similar, except it was a bit of a slog. There were three of us in the cinema, however what Ive never forgotten is one of them got up and left the cinema with about five minutes to go! I was a bit astonished, but then I thought maybe Roy Andersson would appreciate this, because like his film, it was a very surreal moment.
Second memory was in the Cinema One watching the Joy Division documentary. I was the only person in the cinema for the duration. First and only time it has ever happened, and although enjoyable, I hope this doesn't happen with the proposed new Belmont."
John Leslie
A place to belong
“Growing up in remote Aberdeenshire, I always loved films, I'd watch a film every day, but nowhere nearby was a cinema. It wasn't until I was a little older that I was able to travel out into Aberdeen and the first place I visited was the Belmont cinema, I watched First Reformed; which u still have the ticket stub for to this day. And with that, my love affair began.
Like clockwork, I would without fail make my way out to the Belmont and see a new film, whatever was showing; Paris, Texas, The Irishman, Portrait of a Lady on Fire...
In 2020 when the Belmont, and the world closed, I found myself lost, the place I truly first felt like I belonged was gone. And when the reopening commenced, I was there day one to see Minari.
Fast forward to 2021, and I saw Ben Sharrock at the Belmont do a live Q&A for his film Limbo, and it was during this talk everyhting clicked for me; that's what I wanted to do with my life. I went home that night and signed up to a local film course.
I've since graduated, and have happily been directing and photographing films for the past 2 years.
All the love to the team, and good luck with the relaunch!”
Chris Hale
Mulholland Drive
“Me and my boyfriend at the time went to see Mulholland Drive and on the walk home we said I love you to each other for the first time. We're getting married next year and are excited to go out dates at the Belmont when it reopens!”
Noah
Winter nights
“Weekly winter evening visit to the cinema. Dinner nearby then choose a movie. Every week no matter what film was showing. Sometimes we were pleasantly surprised by a film we didn’t know much about.”
Hazel Anderson
The best cinema
“The Belmont is filled with the happiest memories from being there with my boys to being with the best of friends with or without a cheeky glass of wine. Ive happily sat on my own watching my favourite foreign language film with my lunch and also sat with several hundred pupils Ive accompanied to experience the film festival. Its an invaluable asset to our community and its the right decision to enable it to continue.”
Sandra Hughes