You're reading: Time to go to drive-in theater as summery weather nears

Kyiv’s drive-in movie theater is possibly one of its best kept secrets.

Even most natives are surprised to hear that there is a place to watch a new blockbuster on a big screen, but without the annoying noises of neighbors and their horrible ring tones. Moreover, you can do it in the privacy of your own car.

The Kinodrom, the capital’s only drive-in cinema, has been functioning since 2005. It’s very young compared to its peers in the U.S., where this type of entertainment appeared in the early 1930s and reached the peak of its popularity in the 1950s and 1960s.

Yevegenia Stebliuk, a regular client of the Kinodrom, has been coming here for two years. “I’ve seen this in American movies and just Googled to find something like that in Kyiv,” she says.

Located close to the central railway station, Kyiv’s drive-in cinema looks like a vast empty asphalt surface, with 70 parking slots and a vast screen in front. It costs Hr 70 per car to get to the movie-watching space.

Kinodrom’s founder and owner Yevhen Ivatina claims that the cinema is planned in such a way that you get a good view of the screen, no matter where you park.

“We specially checked the overview experimentally: we were moving a car from space to space, with two more in front and behind it, and checking if it’s still ok to watch when all the spaces are occupied,” Ivatina says.

Off-road vehicles and other big cars are expected to park in the back or the side rows, but even if they don’t, they should not obstruct the view. “I parked my jeep almost in the center and no one asked me to move the car,” Stebliuk says.

Even though there is almost no need to use the bar because when driving your own car you can buy whatever you want in advance, it’s a pleasure to use it because of its prices. They made us smile.

– Alina Savchenko, regular Kinodrom visitor

Ivatina was 30 years old when he opened his Kinodrom in Kyiv. “I found the idea interesting and exclusive for Ukraine, so decided to take a risk,” he says.

Its popularity has grown slowly, though. By now, Ivatina is happy with the numbers. “Now we can easily compete with ordinary cinemas,” he says.

On a regular day, the 8 p.m. screening of a movie will typically gather around 50 cars, while the last showing at 11 p.m. attracts around 20. It’s closed for most of the winter, though.

The cinema also features a cafe on its territory, and you don’t even have to leave a car to place an order. Just turn your emergency lights on for a few seconds, and a waiter is supposed to come.

Prices on the menu are among the lowest in Kyiv, and that’s something that can compensate for the inconvenience of having an inattentive waiter. A beer goes for just Hr 15, a cup of tea for Hr 9, and a chicken sandwich for Hr 20. You can even order a hookah pipe for Hr 40-50.

“Even though there is almost no need to use the bar because when driving your own car you can buy whatever you want in advance, it’s a pleasure to use it because of its prices. They made us smile,” said Alina Savchenko, who was a regular Kinodrom visitor last summer.

Despite the fact that Kinodrom is located close to the center, finding it can be tricky, and many visitors complain. “The neighborhood looks more like a landfill and there are definitely not enough marking signs on the way. We got lost there for the first time,” Stebliuk says.

She says that Kyiv’s drive-in cinema doesn’t really look like the ones in American movies. “It is a Ukrainian kind, but it can still be an interesting alternative to traditional cinemas,” she says.


Drive-in theater “Kinodrom”

Tickets Hr 70
Showings start at 7 p.m. or 8 p.m.
Call for info: (044)389-04-04
(050)331-04-04
Address: 2 Povitroflotsky Prospekt (On the territory of the Central Sports Club of the Army, or TsSKa)
email: [email protected]

Kyiv Post staff writer Daryna Shevchenko can be reached at [email protected]