It's showtime: CineCiutat

If you want to see a film rather than a movie, and yes, you want popcorn for the show, but don’t care for cineplexes – try the CineCiutat. It is my favorite cinema in Palma, and it has its own story to tell: The theater started out as the Renoir, a sophisticated art house cinema, some 15 years ago. Most films were shown in their original version, often but not always subtitled – a truly cineastic experience.

Eventually, digitalization changed the making of films, movie goers asked for a different kind of entertainment and, like so many movie theaters, the Renoir had to close down. On that very same day, a spontaneous initiative of local film lovers founded the Asociación Xarxa Cinema. After a year or so of dedicated enthusiasm for the project, they finally established a cooperative, which now owns the movie theater, and named it CineCiutat – a tribute to Cinecittà.

Yo tengo un cine is written on the back of the shirts that its many socios (associates) wear proudly. So the cinema in the former slaughterhouse s’Escorxador – now a cultural center – is back in business, showing great movies from all over the world. Still in OV, and some of them dubbed in Catalan.

Don’t be surprised to find out that every other word of those subtitles is “vale”. Vaguely guessed, it has about a hundred different meanings! Quand on aime la vie, on va au cinéma.