Where to watch films in English in Madrid
🇪🇸 ¿Prefieres leerlo en español? Dónde ver cine en versión original (VOSE) en Madrid.
Here is the thing nobody tells you before you move to Spain: almost every foreign film released here is dubbed into Spanish. Not subtitled — dubbed, with a full Spanish voice cast, in the main auditorium, as the default. Walk into a random multiplex on a Friday night to see the new Hollywood release and you will hear Spanish actors.
The good news is that Madrid is one of the easiest cities in Spain to get around this. On any given week our listings carry around 300 screenings in the original language across two dozen cinemas — everything from Marvel openings to Wong Kar-wai retrospectives. You just have to know the word to look for.
The word is VOSE
Spanish cinema listings use a small set of abbreviations, and getting them right is the whole game. These are the ones that matter:
- VOSE — versión original subtitulada en español. The film runs in its original language with Spanish subtitles. This is what you want. If the film was shot in English, VOSE means you hear English.
- VO / V.O. — original version. Used loosely, usually meaning the same as VOSE.
- Doblada — dubbed into Spanish. Avoid, unless that is what you came for.
- VOSI — original version with English subtitles. Rare, and worth hunting for. More on this below.
- VE — versión en español, a Spanish-language film in Spanish. No subtitles of any kind.
One consequence worth spelling out, because it trips people up: a film in English with Spanish subtitles is listed as VOSE, not as "English". For an English speaker that screening is simply the film, in English, with some text at the bottom you can ignore. That covers the large majority of what is on this page.
Cinemas that show original version as a rule
These programme in the original language most of the time, not occasionally. Each name links straight to that cinema's current schedule on our listings.
Moncloa — the original-version quarter
Three of the four are within two streets of each other around Plaza de España, which makes this the one neighbourhood where you can turn up without a plan.
- Cines Renoir PrincesaC. de la Princesa, 3-5, MoncloaThe busiest original-version screen in the city, and the one with the best classics programme — a repertory strand puts a restored classic on at 20:00 twice a week.
- Renoir Plaza de EspañaC. de Martín de los Heros, 12, Moncloa
- GolemC. de Martín de los Heros, 14, MoncloaNext door to the Renoir. Arthouse releases, almost all subtitled.
Centre
- Yelmo IdealC. del Dr. Cortezo, 6, CentroA multiplex, but the one Madrid multiplex built around subtitled screenings — it usually carries more original-version sessions than any other cinema in the city.
- Cine Doré (Filmoteca Española)C. de Sta. Isabel, 3, CentroThe national film archive's cinema, in a 1920s building in Lavapiés. Retrospectives and restorations, subtitled, at prices that will surprise you.
- Cine Estudio (Círculo de Bellas Artes)C. de Alcalá, 42, Centro
- Sala EquisC. del Duque de Alba, 4, CentroA former adult cinema turned bar-and-screening-room — as much a place to have a drink as to watch a film. It announces its programme in short bursts, so the schedule is often empty until it isn't.
Chamberí and Tetuán
- Verdi MadridC. de Bravo Murillo, 28, TetuánFive screens, subtitled essentially without exception — European and independent releases, plus the occasional Spanish film with English subtitles.
- PalafoxC. de Luchana, 15, Chamberí
- Fundación Casa de MéxicoC. de Alberto Aguilera, 20, ChamberíLatin American cinema, in Spanish, programmed in seasons rather than continuously. Listed here because the selection is excellent, not because it will be easy on your Spanish.
Arganzuela and Retiro
- Cines EmbajadoresGlta. Sta. María de la Cabeza, 5, Arganzuela
- Cine Embajadores RíoC. de Ercilla, 53, Arganzuela
- Renoir RetiroC. de Narváez, 42, Retiro
Carabanchel
- Artistic MetropolC. de Cigarreras, 6, CarabanchelTwo small screens showing re-releases and cult titles, often in single sessions. Worth checking before it sells out.
The multiplexes do it too — for the big releases
Cinesa, Yelmo, mk2 and OCine are dubbing houses by default, but they nearly always add subtitled sessions for the week's biggest openings, and the further into the centre you go the more of them there are. In practice these are the ones to check:
- Palafox (Yelmo Luxury)C. de Luchana, 15, Chamberí
- Cinesa ProyeccionesC. de Fuencarral, 136, Chamberí
- mk2 Palacio de HieloC. de Silvano, 77, Hortaleza
- Cinesa ManoterasAv. de Manoteras, 40, Hortaleza
- Cinesa Méndez ÁlvaroC. de Acanto, 2, Arganzuela
- OCine Urban CaleidoPo. de la Castellana, 259, Fuencarral-El Pardo
- Yelmo La VaguadaAvda. Monforte de Lemos, 36, Fuencarral-El Pardo
The shortcut: instead of checking cinemas one by one, filter the whole Madrid region by original version at once. Every VOSE screening on today — then change the day at the top, or type a film title in the search box to see every date it plays anywhere.
Bonus track: screenings with English subtitles
Everything above assumes you are happy with Spanish subtitles you do not need to read. But there is a smaller, stranger category: screenings subtitled in English. These exist for two kinds of viewer — someone watching a Korean or Cantonese film who reads neither Spanish nor the original, and someone who wants to watch a Spanish film and actually follow it.
The Filmoteca Española marks these VOSI in its monthly programme. Its own key defines VOSI as versión original con subtítulos en inglés, and the combined form VOSI/E means both English and Spanish subtitles are on screen. These are the ones left this September at the Cine Doré:
| When | Film | Language | Subtitles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 18, 17:30 | Notre musique (Jean-Luc Godard, 2004) | French | English + Spanish |
| Fri 25, 17:30 | Made in Hong Kong (Fruit Chan, 1997) | Cantonese | English + Spanish |
| Sat 26, 17:30 | Cien niños esperando un tren (Ignacio Agüero, 1988) | Spanish | English + Spanish |
| Wed 30, 19:00 | Comrades: Almost a Love Story (Peter Ho-Sun Chan, 1996) | Cantonese | English, Chinese + Spanish |
The one to circle is 26 September. Cien niños esperando un tren is a Chilean documentary about a woman teaching cinema to children in a Santiago shantytown under Pinochet — it is in Spanish, and this is one of the few chances in Madrid to watch a Spanish-language film with English subtitles on a big screen.
The other one is at the Verdi, which quietly runs a late session of the Spanish release of the week with English subtitles. Right now that is El ser querido, Rodrigo Sorogoyen's new film with Javier Bardem, at 22:40 — the 18:25 and 20:10 sessions are in Spanish with no subtitles at all, so the late one is the one to book.
Sessions with English subtitles are announced week by week and are easy to miss. If you find one we have not listed, tell us and we will add it.
Two practical notes
Screenings in Spain start later than you may be used to — a 22:30 showing is completely normal on a weeknight, and the last session at some cinemas is well after midnight at weekends. And Spanish cinemas advertise the advertised time, not the time the film starts: expect ten to fifteen minutes of trailers.
Most chains also run a discount day — traditionally Wednesday, though some have moved it — and the Filmoteca's Cine Doré, as a public archive, charges a good deal less than a commercial cinema. Check the cinema's own page before you go; we do not list prices.
Check what is on tonight
Every original-version screening across the Madrid region, updated daily:
See tonight's original-version listings →