THE formal re-opening of City Screen, York, after a three-week refurbishment programme, takes place tomorrow with a grand celebration of architecture.

Revelling in a £300,000 re-fit of the Riverside café bar, three auditoria, box office, foyer, loos and kitchen, the Coney Street cinema has been chosen for the regional launch of the Royal Institute of British Architects' national Love Architecture Festival.

Dave Taylor, City Screen’s marketing manager, says: “It’s the culmination of a year’s work to bring these two things together, and I’m pleased that we’re able to bring the launch of Love Architecture to the city of York.”

Lucy Morris, co-chairman of York Architectural Association, says: “York has such a wonderful selection of buildings and spaces that make it so special and unique. The festival is all about celebrating these qualities of our city in a host of different and exciting ways.”

Mark Panter, of Panter-Hudspith, the architects responsible for the redevelopment of the Yorkshire Herald printworks as City Screen in 1999–2000, will be the key speaker tomorrow night before the 8.45pm screening of King Vidor’s American architectural film The Fountainhead at 8.45pm. Mark’s company also has carried out the present refurbishment.

The Fountainhead (PG) will be the first of four film screenings between tomorrow and Monday. Made in 1949, Vidor’s masterpiece is based on Ayn Rand’s novel about an architect (Gary Cooper) in 1940s’ New York. The towering stars of this erotic and melodramatic film are Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings.

Before tomorrow’s event, ticket-holders are invited to view an exhibition of contemporary architecture in York organised by York Architectural Association in the Riverside café bar, as well as for drinks and canapés from 8.15 in the presence of the Lord Mayor of York, Councillor Julie Gunnell.

The festival film screenings will continue with Bibo Bergeron’s A Monster In Paris (U) on Sunday at 11am. In this 2011 French animation, a charming deliveryman, a hopeless romantic, a talented opera singer and an eccentric scientist and his monkey unite to protect their beloved Paris from a hideous monster.

Sunday’s 3.30pm showing of 1959’s North By Northwest (PG) provides another chance to appreciate the climax to Alfred Hitchcock’s chase movie atop the huge monument at Mount Rushmore, as Cary Grant’s advertising exec finds himself pursued by enemies when mistaken for a spy.

Christopher Nolan’s multi-layered 2010 movie, The Inception (12A) will be screened on Monday at 8pm with its extraordinary technologically advanced dreamscape. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Dom Cobb, a thief at the top of his game as he uses his psyche to steal valuable secrets from the minds of powerful businesspeople. Tickets can be booked on 0871 902 5726 or at picturehouses.co.uk/york Charles Hutchinson * The Love Architecture Festival will take place from tomorrow until June 30 in a celebration of the architecture of Britain’s buildings, streets and neighbourhoods.

Emma England, RIBA director for Yorkshire, says: “There’ll be more than 25 events across the county, most of them free. The festival will have family fun days, treasure hunts and lots of building tours and walks and has events for all ages. Anyone can get involved.”

For more Love Architecture details, visit lovearchitecture.org