Locality in Laika Cinema — A Solo Half-Day in Yeonhui-dong's Laika Cinema

Locality in Laika Cinema — A Solo Half-Day in Laika Cinema, Yeonhui-dong

Intern S. loves spending time alone. She seeks out places where she can pass three or four hours solo — cafés with a great atmosphere, movie theaters, libraries, art museums. She especially loves stumbling upon such a spot by chance while wandering down a quiet alley.

Words & Photos Ryu Sunwoo

First Space: Yeonhui-dong’s Film Boutique

Laika Cinema opened in 2021 as Yeonhui-dong’s very first movie theater — and its first art house theater. It has a single screening room, and among Seoul’s art house cinemas, it’s the only one equipped with a Dolby Atmos surround sound system. As you might guess from the building’s name, Space Dog, which honors the first dog sent into space, and the theater’s own name, Laika, after that very dog, the corridors leading to the screening room are decorated with a space concept.
So how did a movie theater end up in this quiet, mostly residential neighborhood? Space Dog, the building housing Laika Cinema, is a multipurpose cultural complex created by a local entrepreneur born and raised in Yeonhui-dong. Believing that a cultural space needed a movie theater at its core, he envisioned a dedicated art house cinema. Thanks to this, a space was born where the film directors, artists, and writers based around the Yeonhui Writers’ Village — as well as everyday residents — could all enjoy the same experience.

Perks that reflect a real sense of community stand out too — discounts for Yeonhui-dong residents, discounts for students at universities in Seodaemun-gu and Mapo-gu, and a stamp card system where collecting seven stamps earns you an eighth movie for free. Perhaps it’s because the theater sits across from a neighborhood daycare center, but the screening room often fills up with residents who drop by in twos and threes after dropping off or picking up their kids, or on an evening walk, to enjoy a movie and coffee, along with students from the nearby university. There’s no parking lot and no subway station nearby, but that doesn’t stop the many people who take pleasure in seeking out walkable neighborhoods from making their way here.
This is a place that quietly screens films for those who find their way here through word of mouth, in its one and only screening room, all while wondering how to win the hearts of more moviegoers, how to lower the barrier to entry for art films, and how to offer a better experience. Far more than just a theater you visit to watch a movie, it’s clearly a cinema that walks its own path every day in Yeonhui-dong, ready to offer something new.

Tips for a Half-Day Well Spent

The charm of a single-screen theater is that you can sit in one spot and watch movie after movie without a second thought. It’s the perfect place to visit on a cloudy day, or any day you just want to watch films to your heart’s content. The screening room and box office are on the basement and first floors respectively, and one floor up sits Café Mog, which ran a café in Yeonhui-dong before joining Space Dog. Show your movie ticket and get 1,000 won off a drink — the perfect way to savor the afterglow of a film with a coffee. On the first floor, you’ll find film-related books, some of which were published by the publishing house and film production company occupying the building’s third and fourth floors. For any art house film lover, these are books worth lingering over, so feel free to sit down and spend some time here.

mogcoffee

Final Thoughts

“You just have to trust me completely.” Just as having Teacher Kim Ju-young by your side in the drama “SKY Castle” makes all your college admissions worries disappear, coming to Laika Cinema means you never have to agonize over what to watch. One well-curated film — or even five — awaits. There’s a quiet confidence here: even if you show up with no particular movie in mind, something worth watching is always playing. That, clearly, is Laika Cinema’s own charm, set apart from any multiplex.