Iwona Bojko, head of the impresariat department and today acting director of Bolesławiecki Ośrodek Kultury, has always selected the programme with local residents in mind. And she has been excellent at matching their tastes. She managed the cinema and its programme so well that it was granted premiere cinema status. So why are complaints about the programme appearing so often? The most common criticism concerns the excessively long period for which one title is shown, remaining on the bill for two or three weeks. Meanwhile, in Poland, between five and eight premieres enter cinemas every Friday.
Unfortunately, we have a cinema with one auditorium and one film, and this is not the result of poor cinema management. When signing an agreement with a distributor to show a premiere film, one must agree to that title’s exclusivity. And exclusivity means that other productions cannot be shown. In multiplexes, this form of cooperation with distributors is no problem at all. With ten screens, each of them can show a single title for even four weeks.
We have a wonderful cinema, but when the outdated renovation plan for Forum was approved, no one thought that the world outside the office had moved on. The film-distribution market is already in the 21st century, where multiplexes are springing up like mushrooms, while single-screen cinemas have no chance of survival and, moreover, do not meet customers’ needs at all.
Thanks to Iwona Bojko and her programme juggling, we have any variety of titles at all—of course, as much as can be offered in a cinema unsuited to this purpose. The first step was to avoid showing films on their premiere date, because then a single title would have to be screened for at least four weeks, meaning we would see 12 films a year. Now premiere films are shown two weeks later, making it possible to negotiate only a two-week exclusivity period for the title. In addition, the programme is expanded with offerings from the Film Discussion Club, which is developing excellently and has a large number of regular patrons. This makes it possible to add four different titles per month. Interesting selections of ambitious cinema also appear as part of the New Horizons Film Education programme, in which almost 900 people participate.
A single-screen cinema has not the slightest chance of negotiating prices with a distributor in order to obtain permission for reduced-price tickets or free passes. Ms Bojko manages to deal with this problem too, but only for morning screenings for school groups, where a ticket can cost 11 zlotys, and for so-called film events. That means the New Horizons Film Education and Film Discussion Club projects, sold as passes, where one admission costs 6–7 zlotys.
In addition, Forum serves as a concert and theatre venue. It is also used for various events commissioned by the City or County Office.
The ill-considered renovation means that even the best work is unfairly perceived as incompetence. In communities where the problem of a single-screen cinema is understood, Bolesławiecki Ośrodek Kultury receives praise.
(GH information)