The process of digitalization in cinemas, albeit with considerable differences from territory to territory, is reaching its final phase and the so-called "switch-off" for traditional film is almost complete. But which cinemas have not yet converted to the new technology? And why? This column has been opened to find answers to these questions, presenting portraits of cinemas in Europe that have not yet digitalized or that are still looking for a way to deal with the shift.

Eden
by Elisabetta Galeffi
 

The Eden Cinema tries again

The curtain rises once again for the Eden Cinema in Arezzo, which closed in May 2014, due to the lack of a digital projector and the impossibility of obtaining films for the previous generation of film projectors. The great event took place on 17 December 2014, surprising the Arezzo's inhabitants, who had already lost the municipal Petrarca Theatre over 10 years previously and had got used to the ineffective promises of politicians as to its re-opening.

Instead, the Eden, the Arena Eden, has managed it, thanks to private funding. The owner of the theatres contributed with half the sum necessary for buying two new projectors. The other half was provided by a courageous, local, cultural association, "Officine della Cultura", which succeeded in obtaining the funding allotted by the European Union for assisting digitisation in cinemas. The same association that also achieved to reopen the "Verdi" theatre of Monte San Savino.
The cost of the projector for the larger auditorium in the Eden, seating 166, was 55 thousand euros, whilst an outlay of 33 thousand euros ensured that the small auditorium, too, was fitted with modern equipment. The projectors are all supplied by Barco.

The second baptism of the only cinema in town was well publicized by fans of the Eden's Facebook page, to the extent that the news was sent to me by a friend from Atlanta in the USA, galvanized by the fact that when she comes back to Arezzo next summer, she will be able to spend a few pleasant evenings at the open-air cinema.
And this is how I, too, found myself at the packed re-opening party, culminating in the screening of "Modern Times", newly renovated and digitalized by the Cineteca di Bologna.
For now the ticket prices at the Eden have increased slightly and some evenings a film can be seen for only 5.50 euros, although the programming has become far more interesting, given the greater opportunity for choosing the films on the market.
To keep the multi-screen cinema open for more evenings a week and encourage the public to start going out to the cinema again, they have come up with the nice idea of the Wednesday film series, which offers films that could not be shown during the months when the Eden was closed, and is entitled "We apologize for the delay".

And more could be done to gain new audience, if the programming rules dictated by the distributors were not so inflexible, with constrictions that almost succeed in eliminating the advantage obtained thanks to the use of digital, i.e. the facility and speed of distribution. "At times, being obliged to keep a film running for two weeks is an enormous disadvantage in terms of audiences," confesses an employee, "we know that there are films that will not draw enough spectators to fill two weeks of programming, or a total of 20 screenings. More flexibility on the part of the distributors would help us to keep small theatres open, thanks to the wider range of titles that would be available. It would be nice to have the chance, as happens abroad, of choosing a children's film in the afternoon and one for adults in the early or late evening, or simply the possibility of changing the programme after only a few days of screening."

Constrictions such as these prevent theatres from looking to the future with greater optimism, so the Eden is certainly not planning to splash out on 3D or satellite connections: "At present we are improvising." explains the head of programming, "We are very happy to have opened again and if the public responds, we shall make further plans."

An article about the Cinema Eden's goodbye screening on 4 May 2014 was published in the DGT Online Informer no. 106.

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