Watch an Oscars watch party… Meta, right?
Nearly 18 million people worldwide tuned into the Oscars last Sunday across ABC and Hulu.
At least 200 of them were snuggled into the Grade II listed Rio Cinema in Dalston waiting for the lights to dim.
As Stellan Skarsgård said: “In a cinema, when the lights go down and eventually you share the pulse with other people, that is magic. Cinema should be seen in cinemas.”
Skarsgård’s Golden Globes acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actor in Sentimental Value didn’t look inwards, as so many of these acceptance speeches do.
He looked upon the future of independent cinema, and issued a call to arms.
With the constant threat of closure looming over independent cinemas, such as the ongoing battle to keep the Ultimate Picture Palace running in Oxford, the Rio Cinema is an example of community uniting to keep a cultural icon in the locale.
A 2025 survey conducted by the Independent Cinema Office (ICO) revealed that 31% of independent cinemas and arts venues in the UK said they needed capital investment to remain operational.
Almost a third of independent cinemas face closure in the next three to five years if their fiscal models continue.
One outlier sits on Kingsland High Street.
There’s been a cinema on The Rio’s location since 1909, and The Rio Cinema became volunteer-run, not-for-profit community trust in 1979, which it remains to this day.
Clad in costumes that ranged from Timmy to Tubarões, film fanatics settled in for an all-night viewing of the 98th Academy Awards.
The cheers were lofty for Best International Feature nominees The Secret Agent and Sentimental Value but became a raucous cacophony when One Battle After Another and Sinners arrived on the scene.
The loudest show of appreciation, however, was reserved for Javier Bardem’s no a la guerra badge (No to war) and his declaration of “Free Palestine” when presenting the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.
Political statements were few and far between elsewhere across the broadcast.
This is in stark contrast to The Brits. ITV hosted the UK’s premiere music awards show and came under fire for its excessive bleeping of acceptance speeches, following the BBC’s BAFTAs foul-up.
A tape-delayed BAFTAs broadcast included a racial slur shouted by Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson and it remained on iPlayer for hours after.
Rio Cinema began the evening with complementary prosecco, hosted a costume competition and had an MC commentating on the night.
The costume competition was another feather in the cap for Sinners, who took home four Oscars but more importantly, was also The Rio’s costume competition champion.
A bastion of independent film, Rio Cinema hosts a plethora of events, such as their Queer Lo-Fi Film Club and monthly over-60s socials.
The cinema also has an in-depth archive of decades-old Hackney photography, which are shown before Monday screenings.
The staff created themed cocktails, gave out Oscars bingo cards and passed out pop-culture themed badges with practised ease.
Despite a recorded 9% shrink in viewing figures, the core film fanatics remained crystal clear on its importance.
Attendee Abhirupa Sarkar said: “It feels like the World Cup for us, but in a way, the Oscars is bigger!”
The broadcast will shift to YouTube from 2029 in an attempt to catch the attention of Gen-X who prefer to watch snippets of Amelia Dimoldenberg’s Chicken Shop interviews with Oscars host Conan O’Brien than watch O’Brien’s hosting gig itself.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another swept the Oscars with six wins.
Eleven times a winless nominee, the director finally got his Academy Award, taking home the statues for Best Director, Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.
The film, a gruelling exploration of systemic conflict, was the clear crowd favourite though the cultural resonance of Ryan Coogler’s Sinners has already burrowed deep.
By hosting these marathon screenings, The Rio transformed a distant, televised ceremony into a shared neighborhood experience. As the credits rolled, attendees filed out onto Kingsland High Street, not an ounce of the Sunday Blues in sight.
“Cinema should be seen in cinemas.”
Find out more in the video below.
Featured image credit: Olivia Franks
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