Waiting for the return to theaters ("we hope to be able to reopen the cinemas as in most of Europe, by the summer" explains ANA Luigi Lonigro, president of ANICA distributors), the cinema on the big screen returns to opened with Moviement Village, a national project that aims to put online "all the already existing and active arenas, about 100; reactivate those that did not program, about 80, more multifunctional structures such as cinevillage". The goal is to reach a minimum of 200 outdoor structures "emphasizes Lonigro. For every 100 arenas activated, it is estimated that about 600 employees and workers will be directly involved to reach up to 3000 units thanks to the armature generated.
"There is a great positive ferment among exhibitors and a strong contribution from distributors - adds Francesco Rutelli, president of ANICA -. We are confident that this project will work throughout Italy". Now we await "the protocols and times that will be dictated by the health authority, but with the project we are ready to start from July 1st," says Lonigro. Created by Anec with the participation of Anica, distributors and producers section, with the Italian Film Academy David di Donatello, Moviement Village has the support of the General Directorate of Cinema and Audiovisual of Mibact, the sponsorship of Anci and the collaboration of Anac, 100Autori and New Imaie. The Presidia Book Association, Italian Booksellers Association, Cepell - Center for Books and Reading also participate.
With the lockdown, over 4,000 screens were closed and more than 6,000 direct employees were suspended from work: "Just in terms of the box office, approximately 120 million euros in collections have been lost so far - recalls the president of the distributors of the 'Anica - losses that fall across the entire supply chain ... a total disaster ". Moviement Village however "is not an alternative to the reopening of the theaters, which remains the primary objective we are working on". In the open-air facilities, a selection of titles released before the lockdown will be scheduled, many films released in recent months directly on the platforms (from Trolls World Tour to Tornare), "therefore still unpublished on the big screen" and, thanks to the collaboration with David , the works submitted and awarded by the 2020 edition (the winners will be discovered on May 8) in the presence also of authors and talents. It is hoped that the cinemas will reopen by the end of the summer in Italy too (in most of Europe it will start again in July). Only in cinemas for this "will you see the most anticipated new blockbusters, such as Christopher Nolan's Tenet or Mulan in the live action version. To start again we will need a very strong proposal, including Italian cinema", adds Lonigro. Regarding the reopening "the greatest prudence prevails by the technical-scientific managers in Italy. And we can only respect it, also because people have the right to go to the cinema in all serenity" comments Rutelli.
"We want the public to be protected in every way, we will be very careful" adds Lonigro. We hope "since the end of May to know the protocols. From the government we have signs that they are working intensely and constructively. We hope that the concept of 'group' distancing, which is already moving up to level, is also taken into consideration by us. international. A couple or members of a family who go to the cinema must be able to sit next to it. It would be very useful to bring people back to the theater and the reduction of seats would not be more than 50%, while with the droplet distancing, ad personam , also implemented in Italy for five days before the lockdown, there was only 25% availability of places and it would not be sustainable ". "The restarting of production is also a priority" - concludes Rutelli -. By checking, before starting, all the conditions of absolute safety, which together with all the associations in the supply chain we try to agree with workers, technicians, actors. And knowing that it would be a disaster if many productions moved abroad, given the already dramatic situation in terms of work and business crisis ".