Present and future of movie theaters during the pandemic

After a year of isolation and the drastic change of every common social dynamic, is more than ever urgent to investigate the implications that a global pandemic has until these days on the entertainment world and workers related to it.

The work’s objective is to investigate this issue and to raise questions about the social relevance of cultural entities like cinemas and theatres. The report shows photographies of three different movie theatres in Florence: “Fondazione Stensen”, “Spazio Alfieri” and “Multisala Principe”. The pictures are displayed in a 15 minutes long video along with interviews with three personalities of the entertainment world: Michele Crocchiola, Stensen’s movie theater director, Lorenzo Luzzetti, Spazio Alfieri’s menager and Riccardo Galardi, Multisala Principe’s projectionist.

Discussed themes vary from managing the lockdown of the movie theaters, to the difficulties of reopening them with half-capacity and the lack of movies present on the market at the moment. Other topics involve thoughts about the future of movie theaters in relation to the upcoming of streaming platforms (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney +, etc) and the social and cultural meaning of “going to the movies”. In the end there are some thoughts about the modality and effectiveness of the government support for the entertainment world and its workers.