The hotly anticipated The Devil Wears Prada 2, starring Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Meryl Streep, will be the first film on offer for under-5 cinephiles and their parents, with the special parent and child screening taking place on Thursday, May 21 at 11:00am.
Parent and child screenings have been on the agenda of Cinema Paradiso co-owner Carolyn Whitaker since she took on the business with her husband Hamish Menlove.
An attempt to get parent and child screenings up and running failed — "we didn’t have any connections with the parents of young children in the community," Ms Whitaker said — but when a new parent with a network of other mums and dads of young children got in touch, she was happy to oblige.
"The lights will be on — not fully bright, but dimmed enough for everybody to be able to see — and the sound is down so it’s not too loud for little ears," Ms Whitaker said.
It goes without saying, but if your ideal cinematic experience involves a dark, silent ambience, you might want to skip the parent and child screenings.
"It won’t be your typical movie screening, but it’s a way for parents to see a film that they might not get to see otherwise because they’re looking after young ones," Ms Whitaker said.
The origin of the screening — a member of the community making a request — is something that Ms Whitaker and Cinema Paradiso would like to to see more of, and not just from parents of young children.
"We want to be a cinema that is providing what the community needs," Ms Whittaker said.
"There are times where there might be a film people want to see and they just think we’re not playing it, but sometimes we’ll get a film in if people request it.
"If you don’t know there’s a need, you can’t really provide the service."
