One of the oldest art cinemas in the world, opened in 1926 in a converted chapel near the Panthéon. A single screen, roughly 100 seats, programming that oscillates between restored classics, contemporary arthouse, and experimental work. The room has the proportions and hush of the chapel it once was — stone walls, vaulted ceiling, a quality of attention that larger cinemas cannot manufacture. Studio des Ursulines premiered Buñuel and Dalí's Un Chien Andalou in 1929; that spirit of provocation-through-cinema has survived a century. The cinema is tiny, easy to miss, and precisely the kind of place that makes Paris the world capital of cinephilia.
Location
Saint-Germain, Paris
Map
Insider Intel
Check the programme — screenings are less frequent than the larger cinemas, which makes each one feel curated rather than scheduled. The room is small enough that arriving late means sitting in the front row. The Latin Quarter location makes it easy to combine with Le Champo and Le Grand Action for a multi-cinema afternoon.
Evening screenings for the most engaged audience. The cinema has a particular atmosphere after dark — the quiet street, the stone facade, the sensation of descending into a converted chapel to watch a film.
Studio des Ursulines opened in 1926 as part of the Parisian avant-garde cinema movement. The premiere of Un Chien Andalou here in 1929 is one of the foundational moments of surrealist cinema. The cinema is classified as a heritage site. Tickets are inexpensive. The room is unheated in winter — bring a layer. A visit here is a visit to the origin point of the idea that cinema can be art, not just entertainment.