Kino Úsmev: Cinema & centre for audiovisual culture by 436 studio

KINO Ă&#x161;SMEV: Cinema & CENTRe for audiovisual culture

KINO ÚSMEV: Cinema & Centre for Audiovisual Culture In autumn 2015 the not-for-profit organisation Cinefil took over an abandoned Communist-era cinema, Kino Úsmev in Košice, Slovakia and began converting it into a Centre for Audiovisual Culture to support the production and presentation of film and other audiovisual works. The creation of the Centre for Audiovisual Culture is a grassroots project that originated from a community of film-makers and film-enthusiasts in Košice and wider Slovakia.

Kino Úsmev Kino Úsmev (Cinema Smile) opened in 1929. It underwent several refurbishments, most extensively in the 1950s and 1970s, giving it the Soviet-era stamp it bears today. The cinema closed in 2012. In the same year, Cinefil conducted a review of all film venues in Košice to identify spaces that could house both a bustling art cinema and the prospective Centre for Audiovisual Culture.

Kino Úsmev was the last of the former cinemas in the city - which once had a buoyant cinema culture - that was still capable of functioning as a cinema again.

All the other venues have either been gutted and left abandoned by developers running short on cash, or converted to other uses. As the Kino Úsmev building is fully owned by the city of Košice, Cinefil began negotiations about long-term lease with the municipal authorities, who were at the time considering its sale to private developers (whose various reported intentions included a dance club and a block of flats). After three years of dialogue, in June 2015 the Košice city council unanimously

voted in support of the establishment of the Centre for Audiovisual Culture in Kino Úsmev. Kino Úsmev is housed in a self-standing building in Košice’s Old Town. It has its own small park, one large screening room (capacity 343 seats), one small screening room (capacity 30 seats), a bar and ample space in its basement and ground floors for the planned production and workshop rooms.

Centre for Audiovisual Culture in Kino Ă&#x161;smev

projection room

screening room I.

office

bar & cafĂŠ screening room II.

gallery

studio

editing room workshop room

studio studio storage

library

mediatheque

Cinefil took over Kino Úsmev in autumn 2015 and began the process of creating the Centre for Audiovisual Culture there. The Centre will encompass: • a state of the art two-screen cinema with a programme of daily and festival screenings, and a side-programme of educational events for the general public and schools • material infrastructure for the support of film and audiovisual production, including film studios, an animation studio, an editing room, a digital lab, an exhibition space, and a workshop & seminar room • events and networks to support film and audiovisual production, including critical forums for artists and authors to share and discuss work in progress, courses, and events of various formats to connect authors and scientists, technology developers, producers, curators, critics, distributors, and enterpreneurs • facilities and events to support research, including a mediatheque and a library, discussion forums for researchers and lecture series by invited scholars • a studio flat for visiting artists and lecturers • a bar and a café, with a summer terrace in the cinema’s own park

The cinema will function as a venue for film festivals and conferences.

The revitalisation of the cinema and its transformation to a fully-functioning Centre for Audiovisual Culture will take place over the course of five years. In the first phase (March 2016-October 2016), Cinefil will complete the full digitalistion of the screening rooms and the reinvigoration of essential cinema facilities, including the café.

Cinefil Cinefil is a not-for-profit organisation based in Košice, Slovakia, that focuses on the presentation and support of quality film production in the city and beyond. Since its establishment in 2000, Cinefil has open and run several popular art film venues, most notably the now legendary Kino Cinefil on the city’s Dominican Square which operated between 2000 - 2009 (c 20,000 visitors a year) and the Biograf film club in the East Slovak Gallery between 2009 - 2012 (c 8,000 visitors a year).

as well as running film venues, Cinefil also organises film festivals such as Urban Docs - a festival of urban films, the Košice branches of Febiofest, Projekt 100, Jeden svet (One World) and others, and events presenting contemporary cinematographies of specific countries, such as Czech Film Days, Brasil Visual, Festival of Japanese Film, and others produces films Cinefil is currently producing an animated film by the Japanese filmmaker and animation artist Kaoru Furuko based on a traditional Slovak fairy-tale presents and represents film and audiovisual production from Košice and Slovakia at international film festivals including Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Prague, San Sebastian and others, at contemporary art events (such as Kyoto Art Map), and at conferences (Shangai, London, Kiev, Amsterdam, Berlin, Warsaw, and elsewhere) organises community film and art projects conducts research in the fields of film, media arts and new technologies for example in 2012 Cinefil conducted research of contemporary digital arts in co-operation with the Pro Helvetia foundation and hosted the Play Again - Games and Culture conference in 2013 Cinefil has won several awards for its work, including the Special Prize of the Association of Slovak Film Clubs in 2010 for long-standing achievement. Our Kino Cinefil was voted the Best Film Venue by kinema.sk in 2006.

team

partners, sponsors and advisors The project is funded through partnerships with local businesses and companies (including utility companies), international partners and sponsors, grants from state, regional and European funding bodies and through commercial activities (such as income from bar and ticket sales, all of which are invested back into the Centre). The project is supported by the Košice city authorities, who lease the building to Cinefil for only a nominal rent. Our expert advisors include: Johannes Wegenstein | Top Kino, Vienna, founder and director Dick Penny MBE | Watershed Cinema and Media Centre, Bristol, founder and director Mark Cosgrove | Watershed Cinema and Media Centre, Bristol, cinema curator Ivo Andrle | Aerofilms, Prague, director Jiří Šebesta | Aerofilms, Prague, head of marketing Phil Collins | artist Maya Schweizer | artist and filmmaker Clemens von Wedemeyer | artist and filmmaker Prof Rosalind Galt | film theorist, head of film studies, King’s College London John David Rhodes | film theorist, University of Cambridge Adrian Goycoolea | film director Paul Bogen | cultural manager Sandy Fitzgerald | cultural manager Thomas Jan Hejcman | RWE Slovakia, member of the executive board

Prof Juraj Bartusz | artist, pioneer of Czechoslovak videoart Mária Ferenčuhová | film theorist, poet Pavlína Fichta Čierna | videoartist Peter Kerekeš | film director and producer Pavol Pekarčík | film director and producer Peter Dubecký | Slovak Film Institute, director Silvia Dubecká | Association of Slovak Film Clubs, director Michal Hladký | Creative Industry Košice, director Darius Polok | MitOst, Berlin, director Gerard von Lohuis | P60, Amsterdam, director Jon Heemsbergen | Melkweg, Amsterdam, head of marketing Annette Wolfsberger | Sonic Acts, Amsterdam, director Jana Binder | Goethe Institut Bratislava, director Martin Šmatlák | Slovak Audiovisual Fund, director

Contact If you would like to find out more about the process, work with or support us, please contact: Lukáš Berberich | director E-mail: lukas@kulturpakt.org Tel.: +421 907 089 711 Barbora Tóthová | pr E-mail: tothbarbora@gmail.com Tel.: +421 902 122 130 www.kinousmev.sk Find us on:

Edited by: Mahlet Zimeta Graphic design: Roman Juhás & Martin Kossuth / 436 Logo: Jozef Tušan / COFO Printing: Copyvait Published by the Košice Film Cartel, February 2016