As Hollywood’s finest learn who has won big at this year’s Oscars tonight, Helen Raine looks at which global venues would be up for the ‘most quirky film theatre’ award.

Although we can download films to our computers, or stream them on our TV screens, going to the cinema is still a special occasion.

There’s something about sitting in the dark, giving a production your full attention, that can’t be replicated at home­ – but some are more distinctive than others...

Kinema in the Woods, Woodall Spa, UK

This cultural gem started life as a cricket pavilion but was transformed into a cinema in 1922, showing Charlie Chaplin the first night. It has never closed it doors since.

It’s thought to be the last cinema in the UK still using rear projection, with films projected behind the screen and on to a mirror to flip the image.

Patrons in the 1920s would have queued to get one of the deckchairs in the first six rows, rather than tip-up seats. They were highly sought after despite their higher cost.

Kinema Two opened in 1994, showing Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Despite the new screen, the cinema looks much as it did in 1922 from the outside and the vintage interior is a big draw. Many of the fittings thrown out by other cinemas have ended up here.

There’s also a collection of early cinema technology and ephemera, offering an insight into the history of British cinemas and amazingly, the organ still disappears into the floor as the curtain goes up, the organist hammering away as he goes.

Electric Dusk Drive-In, Los Angeles, US

Drive-in cinemas started in the 1920s when silent films were projected on to a screen after dark (getting the sound right wasn’t an issue).

They came to exemplify the American obsession with big-budget films and cars, peaking in popularity in the 50s and 60s, when a speaker was hung on patrons’ mirrors.

Drive-ins are dying out these days, but in LA you can still smooch with your honey from the comfort of your front seat before a mega screen at the Electric Dusk, which is located at the top of a multi-storey car park.

These days the sound comes through your radio straight to your car speakers.

If the spaces for cars are sold out, you can sit on the astro-turf under the stars, right in front of the screen.

Cinema Paradiso, Wanaka, New Zealand

Uncomfortable cinema seats are a thing of the past in Wanaka.

Instead, the Paradiso has sunk a sofa into the floor, parked a Morris Minor and provided plush armchairs, a few plane seats and a La-Z-Boy recliner for its clients. You’ll have to be at the front of the queue to get your choice of seating. The wallpaper is made of film posters and during the showing, the enticing smell of homemade biscuits will get stronger. These are served during the interval, along with excellent coffee and ice cream.

You can even order a locally brewed Brewski and Cardona beer from the Wanaka Brewery. Customers rave about this unique cinema experience.

Edible Cinema, London

London’s Edible Cinema merges all the senses in a culinary filmic extravaganza.

Every customer gets a tray of small numbered containers on their seat, each holding a canape-sized serving or a mini-cocktail.

Drive-ins came to exemplify the American obsession with big-budget films and cars

A side-screen light box turns on to tell you when to eat each package. The menu is more about feelings and experience than a literal interpretation of food from the screen.

For example, in Pan’s Labyrinth, as the characters run through a pine forest, you would be munching Pine Smoked Popcorn, “giving pine aroma and flavour while also delivering the crunch of feet on the needle-laden forest floor”.

Or when the caseworker Juno in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice appears, you might eat a serving of lavender-infused smoked mutton jerky, “the lavender for an older lady’s perfume, the smokiness for a pack-a-day habit and the mutton jerky for Juno’s throat, through which smoke pours as a reminder of the suicide that got her into the undead civil service in the first place”.

You have to follow their Facebook page to get details of showings, which are usually held at the iconic Electric Cinema in Notting Hill or the Aubin Cinema in Shoreditch, London, but the company also uses other locations.

Waimea Cinema, Kauai, Hawaii

The historic Waimea Theatre opened in 1938 with the film Josette.

The 1930s were the peak of art deco architecture and the sandy-coloured plantation exterior reflected that, and still does today. The marquee’s electric lights were the first of their kind on this far-flung island.

The 500-seat theatre had a wooden frame structure with a stand-alone glass box office located in the centre of the entrance hall. It closed in 1972 and was all but destroyed during the gigantic Hurricane Iniki of 1992 but a heroic fundraising effort ensued when the building was slated for demolition.

The Paradiso has sunk a sofa into the floor, parked a Morris Minor and provided plush armchairs, a few plane seats and a La-Z-Boy recliner for its clients. You’ll have to be at the front of the queue to get your choice of seats

It was eventually purchased by the County of Kauai and renovated.

The front few rows are still comfortable rattan armchairs. You need to arrive early to snag one.

The cinema shows new releases and pulls in plenty of customers despite its remote, rural location.

La Pagode, Paris, France

Built in 1896, this antique Japanese pagoda in the seventh arrondissement was a ballroom before it was converted to a cinema in 1930.

It was originally built as a gift from Monsieur Morin, founder of the Bon Marche chain, to his wife (they divorced shortly afterwards). Its fortunes have waxed and waned but it is now an arthouse cinema with the chain L’Etoile.

The interior is hung with chandeliers, paintings and tapestries and the decor is liberally flecked with gilt and dotted with stained glass windows.

Enjoy a cup of tea on the terrace of the oriental garden before the film.