Lumière’s Nick Paris tells Cityscape why going to the movies will never go out of fashion.

When there’s so many options on Netflix and television, why should people still go to the movies? Because it’s communal. When you are watching something at home there are so many interruptions to actually being in the moment it’s not funny. Whether it’s the jug, the kids, the phone, the constant interruptions with notifications – it’s not the ideal scenario. Because it’s communal you get that extra added feeling of being in one group at one time watching this special experience, so that to me is the key. And it’s something that home entertainment can never deliver. I think cinema is vital because it does the spade work for places like Netflix and those streaming catalogues to get the film out there. I really fear if Netflix is to be the only future, a lot of films will become buried in a very messy algorithm. They just won’t see the light of day.

How has the experience of going to the movies changed over time? In the mid 1970s you sat on hard seats in draughty halls but the basic experience is still the same, it’s still communal. And a night out is a night out. But certainly seats, sound, there’s so many addendums to today’s experience, with gold-class upscaling, cheeseboards and all that.

What’s your forecast for the next decade in cinema-going? I think for the entertainment side of it, the likes of the multiplexes, it’s immersion. There’ll definitely be immersive technologies in there – virtual reality, lots of gimmicks; maybe your seat will be shifting around, just like the games platforms. And on the flipside of that is where we come in, showing the quality dramas, the thrillers, foreign films and cult documentaries. So it’s almost splitting – the multiplexes are becoming the event-style option and we’re there for the more discerning. The vision is for this place [Lumière] to be a 365-day film festival for all ages.

What’s the one thing people should always do when they go to a movie? Leave your cellphone behind. Be in the moment. I’ve sold tickets to so many people who are not in the moment. They’re either thinking about yesterday or they’re into next week. So it’s actually about sitting down and relaxing and being in the moment. It’s escapism. Also, cinema is a discipline, you’ve got to go in with that mindset and give the director some respect.

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