Pablo O. Scholz
04/23/2021 10:54 AM
Clarín.com
Shows
Movie theater
Updated 04/23/2021 11:13 AM
For a few days,
INCAA
has been intervening in the rescue of the
Arte Multiplex
theaters
and the Cinema City General Paz
.
It is that the closure of the Arte Multiplex, on Cabildo avenue at 2829, in the Belgrano neighborhood, was added to that of a few days ago, of the Cinema City General Paz, just over a block away, on the corner of the opposite sidewalk. .
The Film Institute, chaired by
Luis Puenzo
, is negotiating to find the best way to give continuity to these complexes.
The Ministry of Culture of the Nation and the Government of the City of Buenos Aires are also interested.
The Multiplex Art has 5 rooms and 700 seats.
Photo David Fernández
Of course it is not easy.
The need to generate more spaces for the promotion of Argentine cinema, and materials from other cinematographies that do not have space on multiscreens, is what drives the movement.
Something also proposed by the association DAC (Argentine Cinematographic Directors).
Luis Puenzo, president of INCAA.
Photo Clarín Archive
Multiplex Art is a little simpler or more viable, because the property is listed in the urban planning code of CABA as a protected property.
In the case of Gral Paz, he is not covered by this protection.
Yes in Multiplex Art, because that is how it appears in Law No. 4927, when the protection was enacted, in 2014.
The facade of the Cinema City General Paz, in the Belgrano neighborhood.
Photo capture
This protection would restrict the possibilities, on the part of the owners, of what use they can give the building.
In principle, the façade and the structure must be respected, with which it should - always in potential - be rented for cinemas.
The Arte Multiplex Belgrano has five rooms and a total of 700 seats.
INCAA Belgrano space
What is necessary is that they have tools to adapt to the functions they have to fulfill.
Perhaps a purchase is not necessary, as was done with the Gaumont cinema, converted into the INCAA Kilometer 0 Space, but a rental.
In fact, businessman Gabriel Feldman rented Multiplex Art.
That is what we are doing.
And thus, a corridor with rooms on both sides of Cabildo Avenue would be created, offering a different look.
It wouldn't be all Hollywood.
After the renovations carried out in 2013, this is what one of the rooms of the Arte Multiplex Belgrano looked like.
Photo David Fernández
Today, or if the rooms were reopened in the AMBA, there would be no cinema on Cabildo Avenue.
Because when all this happens, finding places to show independent films, diversity and Argentine cinema can be much more difficult than before the coronavirus pandemic broke out.
Why?
Because small or independent theaters have no backs, and the big ones will presumably focus on "tank" movies.
But how on track is the "bailout?"
The political decision is there, and what is being studied are the possibilities.
The idea is that Multiplex Art becomes integrated as an INCAA Space.
Films have been shown there during the BAFICI Photo David Fernández
The Multiplex Art was being rented, so it is understood that a feasible and expeditious way, as we said, is for INCAA to rent it.
And unlike what happens with General Paz, on the other side of Cabildo Avenue, in the Multiplex Art the modifications to adapt to the sanitary protocols -the issue of the ventilation of the rooms in fundamental- are not so far-reaching.
They are solvable problems in both complexes, but for General Paz there really are some rooms in which if it is not impossible, it is very expensive to find the way around.
For Multiplex Art, it is estimated that the works to be carried out might take between two and three months.
Feldman's decision is understandable.
If you already came with the rope around your neck before the pandemic, with the reopening with a capacity limited to 30% in the City of Buenos Aires, people with fear of attending, and with an audience that, in the case of that complex, Most of them are in the risk group due to their age (over 60 years old), the bet was risky in itself.
Let's wait to see how the talks go in the course of the next few days.
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