Tucked into the Trinity College campus in Hartford, Cinestudio is the independent film theater ahead of you. This single‑screen house seats approximately 485 and wears a classic McKim, Mead & White design dating to 1935, a real movie‑palace feeling preserved inside. Regionally it’s famous for a large screen, 70 mm projection capability and Ultra High Definition 4K Digital Cinema, and the Dolby/Altec sound system here has a legendary reputation.
At every show the spectacular gold Austrian screen curtain rises, revealing real balcony seating and the gold lion courant insignia that punctuate the house’s theatrical flourish. Look back to how it began: founded in 1970 by a group of students who converted a large lecture hall in the Clement Chemistry Building on the Long Walk quad into a recreation of a 1930s film house. They ran Cinestudio as a cooperative, overseeing everything, and early on made a mark by showing controversial films and debuting future cult classics like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Harold and Maude and Pink Flamingos.
Watch the gold Austrian curtain rise, and picture the Clement Chemistry Building and Long Walk quad it once called home.