La Filmoteca — Local services in Valencia

Rudimentary cinema whose personnel is sick worried about people taking food and drinks inside 🫤 and that closes on Mondays, like a museum. Good for the workers to get this arrangement, for the cinephile it is frankly bonkers, I tried to buy a ticket on Monday at the venue for a different day but this wasn't possible.

They sell tickets online but the day I tried to buy one the website was not working, all was fixed the next day but beware, in any case most locals I have talked to seem to think no show ever sells out but I come from out of town centre, so I am not prepared to risk the trip while attending something popular.

The cinema is located in the 4th floor of the building, so if you have any problems climbing stairs don't even try it, there's a lift that looked in good order for your perusal.

The seating is comfortable and the screen should have proper visibility from anywhere in the theatre (I was in the 3rd row but there were quite a few people at the back), audio seemed adequate but the films I was watching probably didn't need complex arrangements.

This being a cultural institution thankfully leaves dubbed films out of the door (at least that seems to be the case).

The saving grace of the place is that they show interesting repertoire cinema, often within curated cycles, and the ticket price is alarmingly low.

A good option for the cinephile but we are down to basics here, the toilets are haphazardly distributed in the different floors and frankly it was difficult to say which ones were for males, females or if they were unisex, the first cabinet I tried didn't have toilet paper, not a strange occurrence in the land but I would expect better from a cultural landmark .

Arrive well watered and fed, specially for long features, there's plenty to eat and drink around the cinema building, including a coffee shop attached to it, but the service was too slow so I left after waiting too long to be served, so you can have something probably somewhere else before and probably after the film, even after the late features which may start as late as 10pm (a Valencian speciality: they know there's little or no public transport after the film is finished, but whatever).

The closest metro stations are 10-15 minutes walk, Valencia town centre is poorly served by metro, there are some buses and there's a taxi rank just outside the cinema building, so make sure you plan your trip accordingly, there are plenty of parking lots in the vicinity, with the amount one is not paying for the tickets one can invest it...

Very cool venue. Just don’t be late for the movies!! Went to see a film at the Human Rights Film Festival, which was awesome by the way, but arrived 3 minutes late and the lady at the ticket office wouldn’t even look me in the eye!! Inside the people that work at La Filmoteca told us emphatically that we couldn’t come in because we’re late - THREE minutes late!! So eventually one of the organisers came down and let us in, no problem!

So in summary: great event, cool venue but the staff ought to chill out a bit!! Hence 3 stars (one for each minute we...

The ticket booth is along Plaça de l’Ajutament and it opens 1.5 hrs before the screening.

No, tickets are not available for purchase online.

Tickets are cheap