3rd Anniversary Party + The Spirit of the Beehive (PG)

Our festive day of members' choice screenings will culminate in a party to celebrate the cinema's third anniversary with our most loyal supporters: The Garden Cinema membership.

Spread across the venue (including our new Atrium Bar) there are good times to be had, with commemorative badgemaking, mingling, and of course, complimentary (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) cocktails. We'll also have a very special beverage making an appearance on the bar menu for the occasion..

And what's a birthday without presents? Once you've taken a seat in any of the screens, you'll stand a chance to take home a prize in our complimentary raffle, which, besides free tickets and gift memberships, will feature an array of prizes from the wonderful local businesses we've partnered with over the past three years, including:

• A delicious Persian dinner for two for the value of £100 at Naroon Marylebone
• A delectable French pre-theatre meal for two at Le Garrick in Covent Garden
• A £100 voucher for a tasty tapas dinner at Barrafina
• A £50 gift card for mouth-watering gelato from Badiani 1932
• A 6-month membership giving access to MUBI's curated cinema platform
• A stunning bouquet from our floral friends at Bloomsbury Flowers
• A box of artisan chocolate creations from BRIK. Chocolate
• A scrumptious selection of pickled goodies from Shedletsky's Deli
• A selection of cinema-related reads from our film fanatic neighbours at FOPP Covent Garden
• A goodie bag of beers and merch from Lost & Grounded Brewers
• A voucher for 8 damn fine cups of Nine Bars Coffee
• A selection of fabulous sakes & Japanese gins from Sake Collective
• A package of non-alcoholic aperitifs from Everleaf

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Garden Cinema party without a classic feature: Víctor Erice’s The Spirit of the Beehive. One of the most upvoted titles on the Members' Area over the last few weeks, the film, which was proposed by members Laura Jacobs and Jonathan Benaim, is a timeless ode to the monsters of cinema and a subversive attack on the real life monsters of Francoist Spain.

Event timings:

19:00  Birthday takeover with badgemaking, cocktails & members mingling

21:00  Doors open for Screens 1, 2, and 3 (seating unallocated)

21:10  Prize raffle across all screens

21:20  Screening of The Spirit of the Beehive

23:00  Estimated finish

Tickets are available to members only and are £15 each, which includes access to the party, a complimentary cocktail, a ticket for the prize raffle, and an unallocated seat for the screening. They are restricted to 2 per member, meaning you are welcome to bring a friend along for the occasion.

Please note we are unable to offer step-free access to the new Screen 3 and Atrium Bar while we await the installation of our platform lift. Access to the new bar & screen currently requires taking 4 steps up from the box office level, followed by 3 steps down. If you would like us to reserve you an accessible seat in Screen 1 or 2, please email membership@thegardencinema.co.uk prior to the event. 

About the film:

Víctor Erice’s spellbinding The Spirit of the Beehive (El espíritu de la colmena) is widely regarded as the greatest Spanish film of the 1970s. In a small Castilian village in 1940, in the wake of the country's devastating civil war, six-year-old Ana attends a traveling movie show of Frankenstein and becomes possessed by the memory of it. Produced as Franco’s long regime was nearing its end, The Spirit of the Beehive is a bewitching portrait of a child’s haunted inner life and one of the most visually arresting movies ever made.