Greece Rediscovers Outdoor Cinema
A T H E N S, Greece, Aug. 3 -- Now playing: the return of outdoor cinema.
After decades of decline, the Greek tradition of watching filmsoutside on summer nights is showing signs of a rebirth.
Some long-neglected theaters have received a facelift, andAthens’ historic Aegli, which dates back to the silent film era,reopened last month.
Moussaka, Meatballs and Ouzo
Elders who remember the heyday of the outdoor cinema filltheaters — on rooftops and in cozy back lots — alongside younger generations discovering the singular joys of watching the starsunder the stars.
Most theaters have small concession tables with increasinglyeclectic fare, from moussaka and meatballs to champagne andlicorice ouzo. Some venues fill with the scent of flowers assweltering days become tolerable evenings. And for cigarette-lovingGreeks, it’s fine to smoke away during the movie.
If the fall rains hold off, the outdoor cinema season in Greececan stretch into November.
“You enjoy a film with stars as the background, inhaling thearoma of honeysuckle and jasmine, eating pumpkin seeds and enjoyingtwo hours,” said Theodoros Ringas, head of the summer cinemaassociation.
A Tradition Lost
But outdoor theater operators weren’t always so sentimental.
Many sold their land during the two-decade building frenzy thatbegan in the 1960s, when more than 1,000 open-air cinemas dottedGreece. Then television — and later video cassettes andair-conditioned cinemas — siphoned off the audience.
Like American drive-ins, the outdoor theaters began todisappear, at the rate of up to 50 a year.
“It wasn’t to your advantage to have a summer cinema and not tomake it a building,” Ringas said.
About 100 open-air theaters currently operate in Athens, wherethe first outdoor film was an eight-minute silent documentaryprojected on a wall in central Syntagma Square in 1916. A realoutdoor cinema opened north of the city three years later.
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