Greece Rediscovers Outdoor Cinema

A T H E N S, Greece, Aug. 3, 2000 -- 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.

Nine theaters operate in Thessaloniki and dozens more are foundacross the rest of Greece, where various laws and rulings protectthem as landmarks and candidates for state assistance. Officialsare debating other help such as tax breaks.

Blockbusters Draw People In

Quicker Hollywood releases also have helped revive interest inthe outdoor cinema, theater operators say.

In the past, the cinemas mostly showed classic films such asthose of Alfred Hitchcock and Federico Fellini, which had a limitedand aging audience. In the past several summers, Greek theatershave been getting Hollywood blockbusters within four months oftheir U.S. release.

Thomas Maniakis, whose summer cinema is located at the foot ofthe Acropolis, attributed his stellar season last year to the mobcomedy Analyze This.

“It was the Titanic of the summer,” he said.

This summer, hopes are pinned on another mobster comedy, TheWhole Nine Yards, and the Roman epic Gladiator.

At Athens’ landmark Aphrodite, which reopened in 1999 afterbeing used for decades as a warehouse, the owner decided to forgonostalgia in favor of a splashy modern approach.

The limited menu was replaced by an extensive buffet andyear-round restaurant. For those in the front row there arereclining chairs.

“We said, ‘It’s 2000 and folklorish things don’t have a placehere,“‘ said Eleni Kakogianni, part of a group that reopened thecinema.

The Aphrodite and other theaters have upgraded totop-of-the-line projectors and digital sound systems — a vastimprovement over the distorted dialogue pouring from some of theolder speakers.

But in other places, there is a conscious effort to shuninnovation and give patrons the familiar ambience: plastic chairs,gravel, and lots of jasmine and other flora.

Tourists Flock to Cinemas

Oddly, the rebirth of the open-air cinema is occurring duringmultiplex madness. Three movie theaters with a total of 35 screenshave opened since 1997 in the Athens area.

Yet Maria Batistatou, a manager at the 10-screen Village Centrein a suburb north of Athens, says there appears to be room for all.“From what has been proven in the past three years, we have notbeen affected by the summer cinemas,” she said.

Many tourists also find the outdoor cinemas an unexpected treat.

“I can glance at the Acropolis while watching the movie,” saidMandy Smith, a visitor from South Africa at an open-air theater inthe tourist-filled Plaka district. “Most cinemas back home are inshopping malls. In the summer it rains, in the winter it’s cold.”

Greece may lead the way in keeping outdoor cinema alive, butit’s not alone. Across the Mediterranean, places such as Italy,Spain and Turkey have seen the openings of new outdoor film venues.

Still, Ringas, of the cinema association, calls it “a Greekphenomenon.” He adds: “It is unacceptable for the summer cinemato die where it was born.”