It was not the day marked on the calendar. Not even the new normality allowed it to be as it had been dreamed of. But this July 10 has been recorded in the memory of the city as the day when, contrary to the tide of recent years, a cinema was born in the center of Madrid . The Ambassadors lifted the closure on Friday at the Santa María de la Cabeza roundabout, in the former headquarters of a bank branch, and did so with the success that only the presence of the public can sign.
The cinema, small and with personality, one of those that are scarce and miss each other wandering around the capital, was two weeks away from opening when the state of alarm blew up all the forecasts into the air. The illusion of a life, that of the distributor Miguel Ángel Pérez , who was shaken under a "jug of cold water" and who this Friday managed to reach the labels with "a happy ending" after the small scare of a fire canceled , for the second time, its opening last week.
After exhibiting the residents of Arganzuela 15 days ago, on an open day, what is and will be the Cinema Ambassadors, this Friday, at around 4.30 pm, the seats of its three rooms experienced their official opening, at 75% of its capacity and mask as the current norm marks, with titles such as the recently released The Wish List or the classic and Oscar-winning Cinema Paradiso , the film by Giuseppe Tornatore that replenish 150 cinemas across the country 30 years after its premiere.
Two tapes that serve as an example to show the idea that the creator of this new screen has in mind: projecting films where Spanish and European cinema - French, Italian and German - will prevail , the one awarded at major festivals such as Cannes, the Berlinale or Venice, in addition to the American author's cinema, alternative and in original version, in combination with quality commercial films.
"There will be different films, from great directors and entertaining, in addition to live broadcasts of opera and ballet ," said the ideologist of this business, also owner of the independent film distributor Surtsey Films, to this newspaper days before the premiere.
Designed between the classicism of wood and the avant-garde of led lights, and registered in the latest technologies , the Ambassadors are emerging, in the businessman's words, as the stage that will put the 'icing on the cake' in a 'revitalized' neighborhood »And with a lot of progress, and that was already branded as one of the coolest in Madrid.
The origin
To know the origins of what is now a reality, you have to look back two years ago, when Miguel Ángel Pérez began to haunt the idea, contrary to his colleagues, of starting this project taking advantage of the fall of the prices to rent a local.
«I had some savings and I started looking for sports, street by street, in this area [in the Arganzuela district, a few meters from the Embajadores neighborhood], where there are alternative theaters, art galleries and an incredible cultural life, but no cinema », says Pérez.
Thus, he investigated for months in search of a space with a lot of height and few columns that would allow him to put the seats in the stands. Until "the place of your dreams" appeared. The site had been empty for two years after the departure of its last tenant, a bank branch that, like so many others, had closed.
With an investment of 600,000 euros, the works started, which in mid-March were paralyzed. Then came uncertainty. How am I going to pay for it? What am I going to do with the workers and the rent? "... But" little by little, "he says ," after putting things fatally, everything was settled . " The workers went to an ERTE, he received the self-employed benefit and the owners of the premises, in a gesture of those who are scarce, decided not to charge him anything during this crisis.
"We have come out pretty unscathed these months" and "strengthened," says Pérez. "After listening to all the harbingers that the cinema would not open and that the world would never be the way it was, seeing us here in July seems wonderful to us, " he adds.
A thorn and a thousand bills that come out
For those who dare to ask how someone can open a cinema when in recent years the large textile and restaurant chains have been erasing all traces of theaters in the center of Madrid, the businessman has the answer. « I dedicate myself to the cinema of a lifetime. I don't know how to do anything else . Maybe he has something suicidal, but I've done a thousand accounts and I think it can go well for me. In addition, I could not die without removing this thorn, "he says to immediately reinforce with data that cinema is still a business:" Actually, from 2013 to 2020, the box office in Spain has risen to 110 million viewers. , a record ».
"Large cities have closed two or three cinemas this year, but many times it is not because they are not going well but because a Zara or a super is more profitable", adds Pérez, who claims to have a target audience of 200,000 people that would take 10 minutes to walk. " The good thing about our cinema is that you don't have to move around and that the entrance and the popcorn are cheaper," he ends up laughing when asked about how he plans to compete with the giants around the city.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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