Cinemas in Zagreb
EUROPA CINEMA
Europa cinema is an iconic Zagreb cinema. It was built in 1924/1925 by the rich Zagreb family Müller. It was designed by architect Srećko Florshütza with the desire to build the most beautiful, the most important and the most modern cinema in the region. Cinema was officially opened on April 8 1925 by screening the film 'Nibelungen' Fritz Lang and domestic film 'Dalmatia, land of the sun'.
Cinema bears the names "Balkan-Palace" and "Balkan", and from the beginning of the nineties of the last century, it has been called "Europa".
The fans of Croatian film culture and all lovers of the film appealed to the city government to purchase this hall and leave it for film purposes. The city of Zagreb bought the theater in October 2007 after a successful action of Zagreb Film Festival and Croatian Film Clubs' Association "Give me the cinema". In 2013, the Ministry of Culture issued a decision according to which the Europa cinema is protected as a cultural heritage and a national treasure of the Republic of Croatia. The interior of the cinema with its rich decorations, plastering and post secession classicistic details is considered one of the most beautiful urban spaces.
Image credit: Kino Europa
Since Zagreb Film Festival took over the management of the Europa cinema in January 2008, its program has made the cinema one of the leading regional institution of independent contemporary films and home to almost all of Zagreb's festivals and events. In their regular program they show around forty independent contemporary films from all over the world and in all categories - feature, short, animated, documentary, experimental, films intended for children of all ages and other films.
At the theater and cinema lobbies, numerous lectures, round tables, discussions, book and film projects, performances, exhibitions, music and similar events are held.
The Europa Cinema launched its own film distribution which has brought to viewers thirty valuable films so far.
ART CINEMA GRIČ
Art Cinema Grič was opened on January 4 2012 in the space which is owned by Kinematografi Inc., and was built more than seven decades ago. The first name of the cinema was Rex and in the following years cinema changed its name a couple of times. Finally, in 1990, the cinema was named Grič.
The Cinema Grič as a repertory theater was closed in 2005, and since then, it occasionally held film screenings and other cultural events. Since the beginning of 2012 and the screening of ''The Duchess'', the cinema shows non-Hollywood repertoire on a daily basis - films from European, international and independent American cinema. The cinema Grič became the art-cinema. On this occasion, the original cinema chairs were brought back.
The Art Cinema Grič become a member of Europa Cinemas on January 1st 2013.
Image credit: Art-kino Grič
DOKUKINO
Dokukino is a unique cinema that specializes exclusively in documentary films. It is located in the theater KIC, Preradovićeva street 5, in the center of Zagreb.
With regular screenings on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays throughout the year, it follows world trends of documentary films and brings the freshest and most interesting documentaries to the Zagreb audience.
In addition to the regular distribution of documentaries, it shows a large number of titles of regional festivals (Zagreb Film Festival, Motovun Film Festival, Sarajevo Film Festival, ...) and organizes special screenings and presentations of the authors, and regular discussions with the filmmakers after the screenings.
TUŠKANAC CINEMA
The „Film Programs“ project was organized in 2001 by the Croatian Film Clubs' Association and the Croatian Cinematheque located in the Tuškanac Cinema, Tuškanac 1 in Zagreb. It was organized because of the need for educational content for fifty thousand high school and college students in Zagreb whose studies are related to the media culture and history of cinema. The project is supported by the Zagreb's City Office for Education, Culture and Sports and Croatian Audiovisual Centre.
The project was conceived as a forum where many interrelated activities could be gathered under one roof uniting screening, lecturing, workshops for young and old, a lending library for theatres and schools, distribution as well as publishing-promotionals and exhibitions connected with film culture. It is a place where one may see classic as well as contemporary world films, find film literature, connect with the world and take part in promoting Croatian Cinema. The project Film Programs is intended for distribution throughout Croatia, especially in University centres.
Tuškanac Cinema regularly shows films from the archives of Croatian Cinematheque.
Image credit: Kino Tuškanac
Header image credit: Kino Europa
Author: Maja Fistrić