Tomorrow begins the Senior Cinema program with which people over 65 will be able to go to the cinema for 2 euros, one day a week, in any of the 3 cinemas in La Rioja that have welcomed the measure promoted by the Government to promote the return to the cinemas.

The Ministry of Culture and Sport has released the image that accompanies this public initiative, a cinema ticket to appeal to the collective imagination, especially that of the elderly. It is a proposal that advocates recovering the illusion of enjoying cinema as an emotional and face-to-face experience, that transcends the mere fact of watching a film and that, instead, turns the act of going to the cinema into a social and vibrant practice.

According to the Royal Decree approved by the Council of Ministers on June 13, at the proposal of the Minister of Culture and Sport, Miquel Iceta, the measure will allow that one day a week, preferably on Tuesdays or another day in the case of cinemas that only open during the weekend or that close precisely on Tuesdays, people aged 65 or over can access the cinema for 2 euros. Tickets can only be issued at the ticket offices of the rooms, prior identification of the person and accreditation of his age.

The program has a budget of 10 million euros in charge of the General State Budgets 2023.

Big screen movies

People 65 and older make up the age group that is taking the longest time to return to cinema attendance habits in pre-pandemic theaters. Thus, in cinema attendance there are still notable differences between age groups: if 49.3% of young people between the ages of 20 and 24 went to the cinema at least once a year between 2021 and 2022, that percentage drops to 6% in the older population.

Of all the cultural sectors, the cinema is one of the most affected, even today, by the pandemic. The health measures taken as a result of COVID-19 caused a significant decrease in the average attendance at movie theaters in the Spanish public, an attendance that does not stop recovering. Despite the rebounds experienced in 2022, the sector still has approximately 40% fewer viewers than the average of the years 2017 to 2019.

This measure is aligned with the objectives of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. Its component 24 aims to facilitate access to culture and promote the transition to the new digital environment that allows the incorporation of new possibilities and realities. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals also recognize the safeguarding and promotion of culture as two goals in themselves.

The new direct grants program is in addition to the direct grants to the rooms that the Ministry of Culture and Sport launched to counteract the effects of COVID-19. In 2022, it allocated more than 10 million euros to 232 companies and entities, and a total of 476 exhibition halls distributed throughout the territory.