The Spanish cinema container has incorporated more modern comedies, such as ‘Mujeres al borde…’, which are interspersed with the most popular films
In the collective imagination, ‘Cine de barrio’ is a Saturday afternoon classic. The brand now transcends TVE itself and its viewers have turned this format, which was born in the summer of 1995 on La 2 to release a package of Spanish films that the then public body had in “stock” into one of the most watched programs of the first channel. Nearly three decades have passed since that premiere of José Manuel Parada, but the years have not passed for ‘Cine de barrio’. The format is alive and well, evolving and reinventing itself to capture a new audience that is increasingly dispersed across other types of consumption.
«We think that ‘Cine de barrio’ is a program for the elderly, which appeals to the nostalgia of certain years. It is a program of Spanish cinema that can cover other times. We all grow up and time passes. And the time for ‘Neighborhood Cinema’ is coming for all of us”, explains the director of the format since January, the journalist Machús Osinaga. The space surprised the audience with the ‘premiere’ of the eighties film ‘Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown’, by filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar from La Mancha. That delivery, which one of the protagonists, María Barranco, received on set in advance, pleased the audience of La 1 with a good audience: 1,093,000 followers and a 10.1% share of the screen.
A risk the program took, but it worked “because there is a viewer who is interested in that kind of cinema,” says the director. “We want to renew and rejuvenate it. We started showing movies from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s in 1995 and by that rule of thumb, now that we’re in 2022 it’s time to show feature films from the 80’s, 90’s and 2000. It’s what I like plan and wish to do» reveals Osinaga.
However, ‘Cinebuurt’ does not want to lose the quality mark that made it a benchmark. Those films by Alfredo Landa, Marisol, Joselito or Manolo Escobar that, despite the years many of them have already aired on other networks or are available on platforms, continue to attract the attention of the La 1 audience. however much you put on ‘Don erre que erre’ or ‘Come Germany, Pepe’, they remain very successful,” he confesses.
The most viewed film is ‘The city is not for me’ by the Aragonese actor Paco Martínez Soria, a refractory vein for the program. On January 8, 2000, it was seen by more than five million viewers, marking an impressive 44.6% of the ‘share’. “I don’t know if it’s the same person watching them over and over, or if there’s a new audience that’s interested, amused, or just curious about these kinds of movies. It’s amazing,” he confesses.
The most immediate future of the program, according to the director, is to offer those more classic films interspersed with “other comedies of the century” directed by other filmmakers, such as Fernando Colomo or Emilio Martínez-Lázaro, among others. “That is to say, the new ‘neighborhood cinema’ for a wider audience,” says the journalist.
Prior to the film’s broadcast, “Cine Neighborhood” has a presentation of it, lasting approximately thirty minutes, led by Alaska, hosting actors or characters related to the context in which the film was developed. A ceaseless work of documentation led by Machus and developed by the team scours the RTVE archive for images showing “the professional and even vital journey” of the artist. The guests, he says, are amazed at his past on television. “That search in the past gives me the most satisfaction. The RTVE archive is ground gold. The guests see the pieces, appreciate them and get excited. Each of them without exception asks for a copy,” he assures.
Source: La Verdad
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