It has been 20 years since Mireia Manén, Nathalie Modigliani and Guillem Galera launched a classic of Barcelona's summer nights: the Sala Montjuïc open-air cinema. "We are very happy. We did not expect the success it was going to have because it was an associative project of three people with no experience in organizing cultural events, but with a lot of desire to try something new without a long-term vision. And that has been the first project of a cultural association that has since become more professional", Manén assures La Vanguardia.
She and Nathalie met as a linguistic couple and the Frenchwoman was amazed that in Barcelona there was no space for open-air cinema on the scale of La Villette park in Paris, which received between 8,000 and 10,000 people every night. Mireia, who is a sociologist, was working in market research and doing a postgraduate degree in cultural management when Nathalie proposed to her to go ahead with the project, an idea that attracted her because of its spirit "of a social meeting space, a very popular event to bring a type of cinema to the whole population".
Then Guillem joined, a fellow film buff from Manén's faculty, and they began to knock on doors. "Since we had the idea until it materialized, two years passed," says Manén, who was clear that "the space had to condition a type of interaction. That is why it was important that it had a lawn, since people could bring the picnic from home - the spirit of La Villette that the organizers fell in love with - and have a relaxed dinner before the screening". And it also needed to be accessible, not at all elitist, with the ability to attract a lot of people - "we loved the spirit of seeing a movie together" - and with quality programming that combined commercial and independent cinema.
After visiting a multitude of spaces, including the Rambla del Raval or the Marbella athletics field, an ICUB employee directed them to the Montjuïc Park Management Center, whose management was keen to revitalize the castle as a cultural space. "It was to see the place and it fit us perfectly. For me it is 80% of the essence of Sala Montjuïc", emphasizes Manén.
The support of the Barcelona City Council has been essential from the very beginning, as well as that of the Verdi cinemas. Each film is preceded by a concert, an excuse for people to go up earlier "because we were afraid he wouldn't come with the picnic and it also serves to promote local bands in a spirit of cultural diversity." Manén is surprised to be told that Sala Montjuïc has become a classic. "Many people have met and fallen in love there. The open-air cinema is something very romantic," he says with a broad smile. And it is that couples and groups of friends make up the majority profile of the public that fills this place with capacity for 2,800 people.
For the first session in July 2003, they chose Amélie and estimated that about 500 people would come. "2,500 arrived. It was a super success," she recalls excitedly from those early 35mm projections. They also feared that when the movie started there would be a mess, but the opposite happened. "Everyone is in a good mood, with dinner and music, but when the movie starts, silence reigns. It's very nice. Sometimes foreigners come clueless and there is more movement in the last rows, but in general there is a good atmosphere and civility. People pick up the dirt at the end of the session".
Manén comments that there is a 40% repeat audience and 60% who come for the first time each year. "Most are in their thirties, but there are also university students, friends in their fifties and older couples, a very varied audience at the neighborhood level and social origin." Throughout these two decades, 240 films and 153 shorts, 228 concerts, an average of 25,000 spectators each summer and 514,600 in total have been screened.
For this very special edition that will take place from July 1 to August 5 - spread over Monday, Wednesday and Friday - a selection of the best of these 20 years with recent proposals has been made. Thus, it will be possible to see 16 titles released recently that will be exhibited from 10:00 p.m. in the original version. Alcarràs, Belfast, Coda, Licorice Pizza, West side story, A hero or the hilarious indie comedy Palm Springs will be combined with classic revivals in the style of Grease, The Big Lebowski, With death at heels or Pulp Fiction, in charge of giving the starting gun. The soul trio The Sey sisters will liven up the atmosphere before the screening of the film that made Tarantino famous in 1994.
Other outstanding bands that will perform from 8:45 p.m. in Sala Montjuïc are Los Stompers, Los Carosones, La Kolmena, Yacine Belahcene or the Jinx Jazz Band, which will appear on stage before the start of the surprise film on August 5. A large part of these films can be found on streaming platforms, but as Manén argues, "watching them from the sofa at home is not the same as watching them on a 175-square-meter screen."
The Covid forced the 2020 event to be canceled and last year with reduced capacity the public filled each session. "This year's advance sale is going better than ever. People want to go outside and the open-air cinema is a very attractive proposal because feeling accompanied by such a large audience has a special grace."
General admission costs 7.50 euros and 10.50 if it is with a deckchair. As a special novelty this year, a micro-short contest has been promoted which, under the title of I also love open-air cinema, invites anyone to stand behind the camera to film a short one-minute piece that expresses love for the outdoor cinema.
