Las fiestas del cine: nostalgia, exclusividad y ocasión en el cine-evento en España

Abstract

In the last few years, along with the standard features in cinemas, a series of screenings that offer unique sessions outside the commercial programme have carved themselves a niche in commercial theatres. These film screenings try to improve and to amplify the spectator experience by placing the emphasis on the community and participative dimensions of cinema-going. Double features and sing-a-longs or quote-a-longs are some of the formulas that some theatres are trying out in order to attract more spectators. This article examines the emergent phenomena of event-led cinema in Spain, and analyzes the double rhetoric with which its promoters are building the potential audience: on the one hand, discourses that refer to a profound discomfort towards online film consumption and towards mass culture. On the other hand, discourses that connect with rather mainstream tastes and that are identified by the commercial films that are part of these events programmes.