The phenomenon of the multiplex cinema goes back decades in America, but in Russia, the verdict is still out. Some residents aren’t happy about watching the grand — although often decaying — movie theatres of their youth traded for bland 32-screen mega theatres.
Moscow-based photographer Sergey Novikov is among them. Novikov is a professional photographer who spent years documenting the disappearing theatres, many of which were built by Soviet architects in the style of the day to satisfy the Russian public’s hunger for film in the 1950s and 60s. And though there have been some attempts to preserve or renovate the theatres, most of them are already being razed — or converted into clubs, markets, and even centres for Jehovah’s Witnesses, according to Novikov.
“I am ready to shuffle in an armchair to feel atmosphere of an old movie theatre,” he writes. “Unfortunately, movies have already left them.” Check out some of the highlights below — beneath the grime and decay are some pretty incredible examples of late Constructivist architecture. [Calvert Journal; Boing Boing]
