FNE Europa Cinema of the Month: Urania and Beke Cinemas, Hungary

FNE together with Europa Cinemas continues its Cinema of the Month series.  In recognition of the hard work and excellence of European cinema operators we choose a cinema from each country covered by FNE each month.  We look at the challenges and the successes faced by those cinemas with a special series of interviews that offer insights that other operators can benefit from and a platform for the exchange of ideas.  This month we focus on Hungary and Tibor Biro who is the manager of the Urania and Beke Cinemas in Miskolc.

Tibor Biro

Manager, Beke and Urania Cinemas, Miskolc, Hungary

Tibor Biro has helmed Cine-Mis in Miskolc, Hungary for nearly 20 years and has extensive experience in art house cinema operation and programming.  In addition to operating two art cinemas, Cine-Mis organises the CineFest International Film Festival, an annual event in Miskolc which Biro also founded..  He is  Vice-President of Art Mozi Egyesület, the Hungarian Association of Art Cinemas, which has 70 screens in Hungary and a member of the board of the Paris based CICAE.   He has also published many film reviews and other articles about cinema and has taught a number of courses at university about cinema and related topics.

TIBOR BIRO: The Urania and Beke Cinemas are located in the Miskolc House of Arts, build in the 1930's. It originally functioned as a cinema, first under the name Urania (the muse) and later, following World War II, it was renamed Beke (the Hungarian word for "peace"). There was another cinema nearby which the capacity to seat 780, but as it was in poor condition and as local multiplexes were opening in 2000, it was closed. Since that time, we have been operating this cinema with two screening rooms. In 2006, the cinemas were renovated and rebuilt to fit the cultural needs of the city; now the building has a great concert hall of 600 seats, a gallery for exhibitions, and two smaller cinemas (of 70 and 140 seats). We screen two films every day in both screening rooms. Most of our operational expenses are covered by the local government as the state support system has been changed and cinemas are not granted any support. For this reason, many smaller cinemas had to be closed. We solved this problem by changing our profile for one of our screens; starting in 2010, we also screen successful movies in the larger room in order to increase our box office.

FNE: What is the challenge of funding a cinema such as yours?

TB: Regarding this region, in the narrower sense, we are the only art cinema here that can offer an alternative to the film content of the multiples cinemas. However, we have to face the problem that art film supply is very poor.

FNE: What kind of films do you prefer to screen, and why?

TB: I think that it is very important to screen the newest films of the great directors, and also such art movies that attract relatively big audiences (such as The Queen or The King's Speech). These are films which interest many people, just like the commercial ones, but at the same time they also transmit values.

FNE: The cinema is home to many festivals, events and film weeks. Why are these important and what do they achieve?

TB: We started Jameson CineFest Miskolc International Film Festival 8 years ago and by now it has become so extended that we have to manage its organization all year round. Thus running the cinema is only secondary. We expect from the events (CineFest, Polish film week, French film week, film clubs, filmmaker-audience meetings, etc.) to encourage more people to come to the cinema, and that is why we continue these programs. It is always easier to make younger people watch films in the cinema. At these screenings one can watch a film that is not on the typical cinema programme.

FNE: What is the role of Europa Cinemas for cinemas such as yours, and why is it important?

TB: In 2000, when two multiplex cinemas opened at the same time in Miskolc, we had to basically change our film structure, and we decided to follow the foreign examples: to set up our film programme from national and art films. This idea fell in with the aims of Europa Cinemas. We were the first among the Hungarian cinemas in the countryside, outside Budapest, who could become members - with the help of Eurimages, at that time.

At the present, the support of Europa Cinemas is essential to our operation. At their annual conference, we have the possibility to discuss the current problems and to learn about new ideas as well. Europa Cinemas has a very important role in such initiatives as, for example, the Europa Cinemas Label award of the professional support provided to the operation of national networks.

FNE: How does a cinema like yours serve the local community?

TB:  We always aim to screen precious films at a very friendly price. (The entrance fee is very cheap, even by Hungarian standards: 500 Ft, approximately 1.8 euros.) We have to improve our relationship with schools, but during this year's CineFest we held a networking conference on the topic of "Young Audiences and the Cinema," and we heard many good ideas that we could utilize in the future.

FNE: What about the upcoming digitalization of cinemas? How will it affect your work and your cinema?