I'm sorry but I can't tell you what it is: Secret Cinema

Although we have spoken recently about cinemas, this time we would like to tell you about a very very special kind of cinema.

Unfortunately I can't tell you what it is. That's the point of Secret Cinema, nobody is supposed to know what they will be doing or which film they will be watching before they turn up. 

Have you ever heard of secret cinema? 

Secret Cinema is an organisation that stages cinema events around London and the UK, selling tickets to audiences without them knowing what film they're about to see. 

Events incorporate theatre, live music and food with the aim of recreating the setting of the film to be screened. 

So If all you want to do is watch a movie, Secret Cinema probably isn’t for you. Its audiences like to act out the movies as much as watch them. 

“It's about creating a social cinema experience where the audience can connect with each other online and at the event." said the Secret Cinema's founder, Fabien Riggall when described the idea behind this innovative concept. 

Since 2007, Secret Cinema has screened classics such as Lawrence of Arabia and Alien to a largely delighted and seriously large group of people who can interact beforehand with film-specific sets and installations and actors dressed as characters from the movie. 

In June Secret Cinema put on the shows of a production of Ridley Scott's Prometheus, launched in tandem with the movie’s national theatrical release by Twenty Century Fox. The shows were produced with the full endorsement from Scott.

The interactive performances invited audience members to step inside the film and create a unique experience and journey, far beyond a traditional 2D or 3D viewing experience.

The line between actor and audience member was blurred with Secret Cinema's online community – it has 60,000 plus Facebook followers – signing up to take part in the London events and then the screening of the film, the identity of which is only revealed on the night of the event.

In one interview released for The Guardian on the 5th July 2012 Fabien Riggall argued that “the traditional way of film distribution just isn't working any more”.

What do you think about this? Do you really think that the traditional cinema is almost dead? And what do you think the cinema of the future could be?

S.