The Century Cinema is Hawke’s Bay’s first independently-owned alternative cinema screening the finest of World Cinema since 1990.

The cinema is the major user of The Century Theatre which is also used for a variety of live events including music, drama, dance, lectures and conferences.  The Century is part of the Hawke's Bay Museum & Art Gallery complex.

Cinema History

The Century Theatre was built in 1977 as an initiative of the Hawke's Bay Art Gallery and Museum Society to enhance the facilities of the Museum, the first part of which was opened in 1936. The project was financed by public fund-raising and with the support of the Napier City Council which adopted it as the "Centennial Project" to celebrate 100 years of local government and thus the name "Century" came about.The theatre was designed by Natusch, Shattkey & Co. of Napier as a "multi-purpose theatre", to be a venue for a variety of entertainment including concerts, dance recitals, lectures and drama. The acoustic design was by Professor H Marshall Acoustic Design Consultant of the Auckland School of Architecture. The Theatre opened in August 1977 (almost three years after the actual centenary!)

Commercial film screenings were not considered at that time as Napier was served by two established cinemas, the 17-year-old Odeon and the 43-year-old State. Cinema licensing regulations at that time made it practically impossible to establish a commercial cinema when the area already had two existing operators.  16mm screenings did in fact take place, these were non-commercial under the auspices of the Napier Film Society. By the end of the 80s a wide variety of films were coming to New Zealand and audiences in the main centres were finding a range of foreign language and alternative films to choose from. Independent cinemas such as "Charlie Gray's" in Auckland were thriving.

In Hawke's Bay the established cinemas run by the two major "chains" (Kerridge-Odeon and Amalgamated Theatres) continued to screen only mainstream fare. A survey of 1989 film reviews in metropolitan daily newspapers and the Listener revealed that some 70 films seen in the main centres hadn't screened in Hawke's Bay. The time was right for an "alternative" cinema.

In 1989 the governance of the Museum had changed. The Hawke's Bay Art Gallery and Museum Society was replaced by the Hawke's Bay Cultural Trust which was to operate the Museum and Theatre (plus the Hastings Exhibition Centre). Ownership of the buildings was passed to the Napier City Council.

In 1990 with the enthusiastic support of the new Trust, the Century Cinema was set up on the proverbial "smell of an oily rag"; the projectors (of World War II vintage) were borrowed, carbon arcs provided the light and the sound was mono (as was the sound in the other cinemas in Napier!).

On Thursday 3rd May we opened for business with a gala screening of CROSSING DELANCY.

When we started regular screenings it was for two nights a week with a change of film each week, but over the years the number of screenings has increased dramatically to cater for an ever-increasing patronage. We still have to programme around other events in the theatre but we now often screen 40-50 sessions in a month.

We started with borrowed projectors but in August 1990 projection equipment from the Paramount Theatre in Wellington became available and this was installed soon after. It consisted of a pair of Walturdaw V projectors with Hi-Central carbon arc lamps and Zeiss Sound heads.

Four-track stereo sound was installed in January 1999 using a Panastereo CSP1200 processor, QSC amplifiers and JBL speakers. A feature of the installation was the Laser beam sound readers, a revolutionary design using a fine (6 micron) laser beam to read the soundtrack. They fitted directly into the half century-old Zeiss sound heads! The Century was the first cinema in New Zealand to install these devices.

The completed system, carefully tuned to the Century auditorium was a major improvement for the cinema.

In August 2001 we were able to upgrade the projection equipment thanks to a substantial grant from the Eastern and Central Community Trust Shooting Star Fund. Two Kinoton FP30ES projectors were installed.

These were the latest development by a major German manufacturer using electronics to control the film movement rather than the century old mechanical system. The machines can also be run at a variable speed to enable the projection of archival silent film at the correct speed. The Century was the first cinema in New Zealand to install projectors of this innovative design.  Four other FP30E projectors have since been installed in New Zealand multiplexes including one in Auckland screening on "the largest 35mm screen in the world".  Added to the projection equipment was a Panasonic PT-L6500e Video Projector to project DVD or other video or digital media on screen when required.

Dolby Digital sound using Kinoton "basement" readers and a Dolby DA20 digital processor was installed just prior to the 27th Napier International Film Festival in August 2003. "Napier's Century Cinema is one of New Zealand's best equipped venues for the presentation of the Festival", Festival Director Bill Gosden said at the time, "We're very pleased that this year it will be even better as we get to inaugurate the new Dolby Digital sound system." At the time of installation the Century was the only cinema in Hawke's Bay equipped with digital sound.

With this upgrade the Century could offer sound and vision as good as any in the country for the greater enjoyment of patrons.

In 2007 the Hawke's Bay Cultural Trust handed control of the Hawke's Bay Museum and Art Gallery to the Napier City Council.  The Century Cinema is the Hawke's Bay venue for the New Zealand International Film Festival in August and the Italian Film Festival in November and continues to screen the finest of world cinema.

In May 2010 the cinema celebrated its 20th birthday.