No one wants to help them

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There has never been as many motion pictures as there are today, it’s just that movie theaters don’t take advantage of them. In 1980, people went to the movies 21 million times in Switzerland, in 2019 it was 12.5 million times. Then came the epidemic: now there are 8.7 million.

People have turned their backs on cinemas. Homes across the country are feeling the consequences: Alba and Uto in Zurich, the Capitol and Modernism in Lucerne – they will soon be history. Just like 21 cinemas that have disappeared since 2019. 224 still standing. Many of their operators ask themselves the same question: What’s next?

An old controversy flares up

“There have always been upheavals in media history,” says Marcy Goldberg, film historian and arts faculty lecturer in culture and media studies. In the beginning, cinema was a mass media. During the economic crisis of the 1930s, in the country with the largest film industry – the USA – the theaters were full, people were unemployed, poor, a ray of hope: the cinema. The explosion also spread to Europe. Then came television, and then videotapes.

Hollywood responded to this with blockbuster event cinema from the 1970s. We are on the air today. “In streaming times, live events in the movie theater become more and more important,” says Goldberg. You have to make sure that the cinemas and the stream have space next to each other. If the cinemas disappear, the structure is irrevocably lost. “You may regret it later.”

Just: who is the “man”?

The federal government no longer wants to pay

Film financing is a federal matter. But the Federal Office of Culture (FOC) made it clear in the summer that the federal government “doesn’t want to take on today’s bill to protect the cinematic landscape.” On demand, he emphasizes: in 2022, the cinemas received 2.3 million francs from the “Succès Cinema” funding pot – the BAK film funding budget of 32 million francs.

René Gerber, Secretary General of the Procinema association, is not enough, says, “Cinemas should be defined as cultural spaces in the cultural message of 2025-2028”. It defines the federal government’s cultural strategy and the consultation process for it will begin soon. His argument is that cinemas should be treated like theaters and opera houses supported by the cantons and municipalities. Now they can do more for cinema, he says: “Communities have an interest in preserving their cinema.”

BAK plans to commission a study that will examine the future of the cinema industry and financing options soon. Results will be available “earliest at Solothurn Film Days 2024”.

Corrigendum: The first version stated that Schlosskino in Thurgau is also one of the cinemas that will soon become history. This is not true. That’s right: Schlosskino at Frauenfeld TG was taken over by Cinévision GmbH last December and continued to operate without any problems. Cinévision expands the program with new movie series and now also enables live events such as the last concert with David Garrett.

Source : Blick