when viewers come to an underground kyiv cinema to escape the reality of war

To access the only projection room, you have to go down a very steep staircase, then buy your ticket about ten meters below. While the Russians can strike anywhere and anytime, the 42-seat KINO42 provides moviegoers with air-raid shelter.

KINO42, in the center of kyiv, is among the twenty cinemas to have reopened in recent weeks out of the fifty in the Ukrainian capital. Lisa and her companion Artem came to watch the 7 p.m. session. Lisa feels protected. And for good reason, this cinema is underground. “It’s a real advantage to feel safe here“, she says before reminiscing about her last night: “It’s always dangerous in kyiv. Last night, I got up at 2am because of an air raid. I don’t feel safe“.”Missiles have already fallen on shopping malls. A cinema that is not underground is more dangerous. That’s why I come here“, specifies Artem.

Like the two lovers, and the fifteen or so spectators present in the hall, there are hundreds of them every month who come to see films in one of the last independent cinemas in kyiv. Unheard of for this small neighborhood cinema, which since the start of the war has been breaking attendance records.

Ilko Gladshtein, the manager of the establishment, is smiling. Opened in 2019, this underground cinema has become a refuge. Being ten meters underground offers him “a unique selling point“: the films are not stopped when the sirens sound, which guarantees the manager not to “lose spectators“. Finally, “it’s much better than before the war“, he lets go.

“Normally, all businesses have to stop when there is an air raid. And it sometimes happens three or four times a day. In other cinemas, when it happens, people wait 20 minutes and then the screening has to stop. ‘Stop”

Ilko Gladshtein, manager of KINO42

franceinfo

The demanding programming also attracts a rather young and trendy audience. Here, no American blockbusters, priority is given to Ukrainian cinema. Russian productions are prohibited. According Ilko Gladshtein, they”dehumanize” Ukrainians and are too oriented.