Iwona Bojko, deputy director of BOK-MCC, believes that the well-functioning Film Discussion Club at BOK-MCC is largely thanks to its members, who in recent years have been coming in large numbers to screenings every Monday. However, more factors contributed to this success.
The attendance certainly makes a strong impression. More than 250 people in a medium-sized city want to watch films that are often difficult to take in, contrary to the stereotype that only commercial productions or spectacular Hollywood cinema sell.
There is one more phenomenon associated with the Film Discussion Club at Forum. Club members buy monthly passes without knowing what will be shown. They trust that the organizers will prepare an attractive programme for them and that they will see something exceptional and worthwhile. Iwona Bojko and Ireneusz Wojtków, who select the films, have not betrayed that trust for years.
The head of the DKF also talks about the comfort of watching films in the renovated Forum cinema. “Attendance began to improve significantly after 2008, when the renovated Forum was reopened to audiences,” says Iwona Bojko. “At the old Orzeł cinema, we had about 15 people per screening. It took more than two years to earn the prestigious award of the Polish Film Institute in 2011. The DKF in Bolesławiec was named the best club in Poland and received the award for attendance and its programme,” Bojko adds.
Besides a comfortable screening room, good management and an excellent programme, the attractiveness of the film club is also influenced by the price. Tickets for a screening included in the pass cost 5 zlotys. No one can complain that they cannot afford good cinema. A monthly DKF pass costs the same as a single ticket to a 3D film.
At BOK-MCC, Iwona Bojko performed a marketing miracle. She gained a regular, loyal customer for ambitious entertainment. Our DKF contradicts the many negative opinions that nothing ambitious can succeed in Bolesławiec. It does, admittedly, require patience, consistency, perseverance, wisdom and a love of cinema. Thanks to Iwona, we have our Cinema Paradiso. She deserves praise for that, although she seeks neither praise nor applause. Her achievements in running the DKF did, however, lead to an invitation to serve on the jury of the Polish Federation of DKFs at the 38th Film Festival in Gdynia.
Iwona regularly attends the DKF, watches films and discusses them. When asked what she enjoys most about the work, she replies that it is the people who continue to come to the cinema.
(information: Grażyna Hanaf)