The Cinemat is Bloomington's premier independent video-rental store. The Cinemat also houses a 49-seat screening room, where current films are shown.

The Video Room

The Cinemat opened its doors at the corner of Fourth and Walnut on August 30, 2002. It began with a collection of 400 choice titles inspired by the collection of Classical Film & Music, the original fine-arts movie-rental and CD-sales store which had its home on the south side of the Courthouse Square from 1986 until closing its doors in 2001.

In early 2005, The Cinemat purchased the remaining collection of another downtown independent which was closing its doors, Classic Pyx, founded by a former employee of Classical Film & Music, and honored memberships of Classic Pyx customers. More than 500 titles new to The Cinemat were entered into our collection.

The Cinemat now stocks more than 3000 films, including a wide variety of art-house, foreign, independent movies, television series and documentaries. More than two-thirds of The Cinemat's titles are on DVD.

The Screening Room

In August 2004 The Cinemat converted part of its store into a dedicated space for film screenings. The Screening Room is the only place in downtown Bloomington showing films seven days a week, with at least one matinee each day.

The Screening Room also plays host to several non-movie events each month, including, live shows by local comedy troupes. A complete schedule of current events can be found elsewhere on this Web site.

The Screening Room is available for private screenings, birthday parties and other special events. To reserve the Screening Room, contact us by:

phone - +1 812 333 4700
or email - bookings@thecinemat.com