Kinologue: The Functional Tool Uniting London’s Cinema

Kinologue is an online guide to independent cinema in London.

It provides a regularly-updated, centralised directory of film listings across select independent cinemas and screening spaces.

London contains an abundance of independent cinemas with diverse and exotic programming. But such ripe abundance comes at a cost: film-goers, in virtue of the numerous options available, face profoundly difficult decisions. Kinologue is foremost a tool to help make these decisions.

I agree to meet Ronan and Stan, the brains behind web-app, Kinologue, on a grey November Sunday in central London. From the moment we begin recording, it becomes obvious that Kinologue is far more than an arthouse passion project. Yes, Ronan and Stan are fiercely passionate about film–that much is clear — but the way they speak about the platform is steeped in realism and business discipline. Their language, mirrors the clean lines of the software itself: purposeful, intuitive, user-led. Kinologue isn’t frilly or pretentious, it is a genuinely thoughtful piece of tech, built with utility in mind and the consumer front and centre. A tool, they remind me again.

What is Kinologue?

Ronan: I think in one sentence, it's a platform for independent cinema in London. As a Londoner, if you like film, there’s just an abundance of amazing institutions with amazing programming going on but frankly it's very hard to keep tabs. They’re all at different places and it kind of presents as though the institutions aren’t connected by a common project. I would say 95% of their programming goes by and gets missed by people who otherwise would really appreciate it”. 

Stan’s relationship with cinema has more practical roots. His entry into the world of film started in the sphere of production and amateur filmmaking, helping to make a film during COVID that would later be nominated for the Young Filmmaker's awards, and subsequently screened at the BFI. His vision for the project is candidly simple– “We’re there to get bums on seats in cinemas. And the easiest way to do that is to operate as a functional tool." 

“I remember there was a report recently from the Independent Cinema Office that said that 30% of cinemas in the UK with the current profit and loss sheet, can't continue to operate– it's just not feasible. And that means they’ll be gone within the next three, four years. Functioning as a tool is a way to combat that”.

Perusing the ICO report later that day, I am saddened but not particularly shocked by the statistic. With streaming services transforming the ways in which viewers consume visual media and film, the long-held status of cinemas as focal points of the community is radically challenged. It is no surprise therefore that independent cinemas, without the financial backing of large commercial chains, are most at threat.  

When I ask the pair how the project came about, Ronan tells the story of how he was approached by an American friend who was shocked to find that London didn't have its own version of the New York based indie film directory Screenslate– a universal directory bringing together New York’s disparate indie film listings. With a background in software development, Ronan took it upon himself to build the platform himself– “He was just shocked that there wasn’t some equivalent in London bringing together all these quite atomised independent cinemas and so he approached me asking if I could build it. And yeah here we are and I’m still building it”.

Stan came to the project just a month ago, having responded enthusiastically to an ad he saw online. “I saw Kinologue advertised and I was having similar conversations with my friends as Ronan was obviously having somewhere out there six months ago. And it was almost like Ronan was the answer to my prayers and Kinologue was the answer to my prayers”. 

 “So you’d never met before this”, I chime in. 

“No we’d never met”.

There is something touching about this origin story and Kinologue’s ability to have brought these two together through a common perceived absence. If Kinologue is about building community around independent cinema, these two make a rather twee advertisement. 

The project, still obviously very much in its infancy, is still evolving, with new cinemas being added continuously and with ambitious plans for events and a more visual interface still in the early stages of development. They are hesitant to provide specific details but assure me there is lots “in the works”. I am somewhat baffled by how the two of them reconcile ambitious plans to scale the project alongside highly demanding day jobs– “Its a lot of evenings, a lot of weekends but it's been an absolute pleasure”. Stan is quick to quip in, “I love it, doing God’s work is energising”. The answer it seems is passion, and possibly a lack of sleep. 

As we continue our chat I notice how both Ronan and Stan are quick to qualify their lack of formal expertise on the subject of film- “One thing that Kinologue isn’t, is about me promoting myself as a big film expert or purporting to be that…there are other people that I want to platform for that.” (Ronan) They are obviously passionate, the archetypal “enthusiastic amateurs”, as Ronan puts it, and yet there is a concerted attempt to keep a curatorial distance between themselves and the website– in fact they visibly groan when I ask them what their favourite films are. “We really want to be connected to the stuff that’s already there. It’s not about us having a strong editorial view. It’s more about surfacing people who are way more qualified to give expertise than us”. 

In fact, perusing the Kinologue interface later at home, I am struck by the utilitarianism of the software. Sparse imagery, a monochromatic colour scheme and a font that intentionally echoes the text found on vintage computer monitors– the aesthetic leans towards the technical rather than the editorial, portraying Stan and Ronan’s clear mission to provide an informative and much needed service that is all about the cinema rather than the founder’s egos; simply put, this is a tool, not a vanity project. 

I pressed Stan and Ronan on what they see as the value in the in-person viewing experience– “It’s just different, man. For me it's the demand it places on you. Sitting in a dark room, in silence and challenging you as a viewer to experience whatever is being presented to you. It's a much more active process, it's much more immersive. There are a lot of really important moments in cinema which are uncomfortable. And I think outside of the cinema space you’re less obligated to enjoy them. You are vulnerable in the cinema. There’s an awkward moment on screen and it's not only awkward between you and the film, it's also awkward between you and the other people around you.” 

Stan: It's event-based movie going. You’re not passively watching a movie, you’re actively watching and that's something that you're never going to get in your living room. 

Thinking back to the recent viewing of Bugonia I saw at Crouch End’s Arthouse, I can’t help but agree with the sentiment. The film, which features a gratuitously long torture scene is a perfect masterclass in the benefits of enforced “presence” in the face of on-screen discomfort. During the scene viewers watch Emma Stone endure high voltages of electric current as she screams and writhes in pain. I couldn't help but wonder if I would have looked away sooner, checked a convenient email or glanced at the screen of my phone if I’d been safe in the comfort of my own home, thus easily bypassing the gruesome spectacle of the scene.  

It's not just the demands cinema-going places on its viewers that trumps the at-home viewing experience for Stan and Ronan, but rather their capacity to organically generate creative community. From Q&A’s, film clubs and cosy adjoining bars, independent cinemas have long found creative ways to entice people to their screens even without the corporate marketing engines of most commercial chains.  

Screenings by Haft Cinema, a quarterly international screening club featured on Kinologue.

“Independent cinemas don’t really have the means to get too creative with drawing people in, but I think they also make up for that in the fact that they have grassroots communities and that happens naturally... people will naturally convene around them. I just saw The Regulars which is an amazing film. I recommend it to everyone who cares about independent cinema in London. It's a film made by a guy that works at the Prince Charles Cinema, it's a fictional narrative feature-film about a day at the Prince Charles Cinema, about all the people who work there which you could see at the Prince Charles Cinema, which is a really meta experience. I know its cliché but it really exhibited all the community and regulars that revolve around a cinema. I went to the Rocky Horror Picture Show there the other day too and that's community with a capital C. (Stan)

What is it about films that excites you so much?

To compare cinemas to novels; I think language is incredible but there’s this kind of barrier between the immediacy of perception and language and language changes things. Unlike a novel you don’t choose the cadence. With a book you get to choose when to put it down. If you're watching a film from start to finish it's like you're just in it, you're just swept along in this zap of experience. (Ronan) 

For Ronan, it's not just the experienced immediacy of cinema that appeals to him but the ways in which independent cinema has become increasingly politicised due to the limiting constraints placed on a squeezed industry. “In the past 10 years obviously TV has become mega profitable and therefore there’s been less momentum behind movies. So the people who are making movies are really intentionally making movies as a form”. 

What’s your favourite independent cinema in London?

“It’s probably not going to be the grungiest one to say but I just love the BFI, they’re probably the least independent in the sense that they're the biggest organisation, but they also do a lot of grassroots work”. (Ronan) 

“Do you know what I fucking love about the BFI is that you can’t get signal in any of the auditoriums so people are off their phones”. 

“I think Close Up is brilliant, in Shoreditch. They’ve got an amazing DVD library as well. The ICA have got incredible programming too. And I've actually not been yet, but it's on my list, but The Nickel opened in the last six months. There’s quite a few which have opened recently. You had The Garden open, The Arzner too. So yes, it's a really exciting time for independent cinema in London.”

What should our readers go and see in independent cinemas at the moment? 

Eyes Wide Shut at the Prince Charles Cinema, which in my opinion is a Christmas film. They’re doing three different screenings at the PCC. They do it every year and you’re going to see it on 35mm, which means that it will have all the original colours. There’s all this talk about blues becoming teal in this day and age on the screen. But this is on 35mm so it's going to be teal free. You’ll get those really good blues. If you're passionate about the blues, go see Eyes Wide Shut at the PCC. 

How can people support you?

Obviously they can use the platform. Use it. When you realise it's amazing, tell your friends about it. And if you want to get involved in any way as standard, hit us up. 

I end our discussion by asking the boys, where they see Kinologue in the next five years

I want it to be a really slick platform that loads of people use and enjoy to the point that it gets new people into cinema. If one new cinema were to open in London and we were to have played a role in that, that would be fantastic!

I leave the interview impressed by Stan and Ronan’s simple and purposeful directive– to get bums on seats in independent cinemas. They may not be the archetypal arthouse indie boys I was expecting, but they may well bring the business acumen arthouse cinemas need to stand up to the well-established titans of commercial chains. I find myself perusing the app later that day and see a listing for Rear Window on at the Prince Charles Cinema– my favourite film. I book a ticket, grateful to see one of my most beloved films on the big screen– an opportunity, that without Kinologue, would otherwise have passed me by. 

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If you’re an independent cinema that wants your cinema added to Kinologue’s directory, you're a curator or part of a small film club you want to platform your events, or indeed you just want a chat, contact Ronan and Stan at: info@kinologue.co.uk