In the most adverse context for cinemas, the first Spanish cooperative cinema with more than 1,300 members appeared. The model raises the need for a popular commitment to auteur cinema and in
PIONEERS OF A NEW MODEL
Faced with the imminent closure of the only cinema in its original version in Mallorca, a group of enthusiasts formulated a pioneering project in Spain: to make cinema their own in a cooperative way. This is how Cineciutat came about, a real act of faith in Cinema in its original version.
His audacity coincides with a disastrous situation marked by several facts:
- Film piracy amounts to 74.8% according to the SGAE or 536 million downloads per year according to the Ortega-Marañón Foundation
- The increase in cultural VAT (from 8 to 21%) makes the once popular experience of cinema a luxury event for a large part of society. The drop in spectators in theaters has been in the order of 8% per year for five years.
- The impoverishment of television subjected to the tyranny of the audiences that for too long have been practicing lobotomies on the viewer and that prevail to buy two hours of pseudo-talk shows to program two hours of Cinema. Who can be questioned by a cinema that asks questions when it only gets shots of sleeping pills from TV? In this state, who wants to pay €7 to lock themselves in a dark room to live an experience that moves them?
- It is undeniable that, for these and many other reasons, arthouse cinemas have ceased to be crowded places. What is the point of a project like Cineciutat’s?
- In my opinion, that of resistance, cultural in this case, of a social tide, which does not accept to be brought down, neither by the pressure of economic interests, nor by the adverse contexts in which we live, and which is beginning to take the reins of small spaces of culture.
THE COMMITMENT OF THE PUBLIC
Being a member of Cineciutat implies paying €100 per year in exchange for 1 monthly ticket and the rest of the tickets at €4. Who has a better offer? However, the biggest obstacle to making the project work is not the price, but the commitment.
Without this commitment from the partners, there is no stability, and the future of cinema is in danger. Not only that of the Cineciutat, but of the projection. That unique experience, inherent in the darkness of the room; the austere comfort of the seat; to one of the few places where silence is still kept, where the work is not interrupted; and in which the social ritual of sharing a story with strangers refers us to an ancestral, communal and for some mystical act.
Commitment seems like an outdated virtue. Perhaps it is the rush of the times, but a little more commitment would strengthen projects such as Cineciutat and that of so many cultural spaces. For the time being, the old Renoir cinema in Majadahonda has copied the Mallorcan model, and has meant the revival of its cinema in its original version.
CINECIUTAT’S COMMITMENT
The public’s commitment to Cineciutat must be reciprocal. The Cineciutat board of directors should not surrender to the pressures of commercial cinema or exhibition monopolies. In cinema, as in life, opportunities count, and a lot. A movie’s life is at stake in the opening weekend. Commercial cinema has many opportunities, as many as multiplex cinemas; Auteur cinema and in its original version is cooked over a low heat, with few ingredients, but its cuisine is only dared to be tasted by those who agree to do without fastfood extracts. Be consistent with auteur cinema, only in this way will we maintain a firm commitment to that independent cinema.
