Culture approves the Senior Cinema program with a budget of 11.5 million and shows its support for Bardem and Sergi López

The Council of Ministers approved this Tuesday a new edition of the program Senior Dinner with a budget of 11.5 million euros for the next 12 months at the proposal of the Minister of Culture, Ernest Utasunwho has also conveyed his support to the actors Javier Bardem and Sergi López and has defended his right to “express freely” your opinion.

“In the face of the various censorship measures and blacklists for expressing their opinions freely as citizens and for expressing their opinions denouncing the Palestinian genocide and supporting the Palestinian people, The Government rejects any measure carried out to censor or attack our national artists.“, Urtasun argued at the press conference after the Council of Ministers. The head of the Cultrua portfolio has insisted on “Anyone who is affected by measures of this type will always have support and sympathy.“from the Government.

Regarding the program Who Senior, Urtasun has explained that This measure seeks to accompany “the extraordinary moment of Spanish cinema” and has recalled the three national films competing at the Cannes Festival. In this context, it has influenced the importance of the program aimed at people over 65 years of age and which in 2025 accounted for 33% of the box office in Spain.

“It is a very, very relevant measure,” argued the Minister who has framed this program in the measures that the Ministry is directing to “all age groups.” “We are doing it with senior cinema, but also with support for the public of the future with the Cinema School program, where we work so that schoolchildren fill the theaters in the morning, which is a period in which they are empty,” said Urtasun.

He has also taken the opportunity to wish luck to Pedro Almodovar who this Tuesday presents his film ‘Bitter Christmas’ in Cannes, but also Rodrigo Sorogoyen with ‘El ser loved’ and ‘La bola negra’ by the Javis.

PROGRAM DATA

According to data from the Spanish Cinema Federation (FECE), during the second edition, which ran between May and December 2024, a total of 1,689,115 senior viewers764,391 more than in the 2023 edition, which represented an increase of 83%.

In its current edition, active until next June, for the first time the program has been maintained for 12 months. In this third edition, during the first 28 weeks, 1,579,923 spectators have already been reached, which points to an approximate increase of 73% in the number of attendees compared to the 2024 edition, if the trend continues until the end of the period. Spanish films occupy the first places among those preferred by the Cinema Senior audience edition after edition.