CineCiutat: Sustainable cinema at Majorca

The CineCiutat, an arthouse cinema with four screens at Majorca, is powered with local produced solar and wind energy since September 2014. “Part of our energy comes from renewable energy providers which are also members of our cooperative", reports the exhibitor Pedro Barbadillo. In 2012, the last arthouse cinema at Majorca was about to be closed. In order to save the cinema, the Spanish writer/ director and producer started a local initiative with 1,500 members which are financing the old cinema. Meanwhile the CineCiutat is member of the Spanish exhibitor’s asscociation Cinearte and is going to join the international federation of arthouse cinemas CICAE. Thanks to an analysis, the cinema is operating more energy-efficient.  The measures also include the use of LEDs. "80 percent of all the energy is spent within five hours", says the exhibitor. "The saving of 20 percent energy comes down to 30 percent less costs."

The change towards environment-friendly policy is a huge trend at Majorca. At the restaurant which belongs to the cinema the food is organically and locally farmed. "Sustainable production has been doubled", states Pedro Barbadillo who als serves food and drinks in one of his screening rooms. The arthouse cinema which shows about ten films per week in the four screening rooms, presents films in the original version only. The audience comes from various countries and cultures because among the one million inhabitants at Majorca are ten percent Germans, ten percent Englishmen, eight percent Scandinavians as well as  migrant worker from Latin America and Senegal.

Shortly after June 27th, the third anniversary of the re-opened CineCiutat, the open air cinema season is going to start at Majorca. At the outdoor screenings are still 35mm prints in use. The celluloid prints are delivered from a stock near Madrid which has a library with about 7,000 films. The exhibitor plans to switch to solar cinema in the open air season. "We have about 1,300 km of beach at Majorca", underlines the exhibitor, "and there are several communities which really like that idea."