This Tuesday, the Council of Ministers approved the Royal Decree of the second edition of the Senior Cinema Program, for people over 65 years of age, to whom it will be 12 million euros which represents an increase of 20 percent of the budget compared to the first call.
This was explained by the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, in a press conference after the Council of Ministers, who detailed that The measure is aimed at 9.5 million people over 65 years of age who will be allowed to go to movie theaters for two euros. The minister expects the program to be available at the end of April or beginning of May.
“It is a measure that aims to support the movie theaters of our country, which are a true cultural heritage. We take one more step, but above all, to guarantee the right that every person in our country has to access culture, regardless of their origin, age or income,” he said.
Urtasun has explained that in this new edition Cultura has “improved” the distribution system in movie theaters with the creation of a reserve fund of 1.75 million euros, because in the first edition some theaters were left without credit and “they couldn’t carry the program to the end.”
“We have improved the distribution system, allocating more resources to those theaters that host a greater number of spectators aged 65 or over. We have created a reserve fund of 1,750,000 euros so that credit does not run out“, he pointed out.
In its first call, they joined a total of 420 cinemas throughout Spainbut only 28 cinemas spent everything they received in this aid, according to data provided by the Government on December 26 in a parliamentary response to the Popular Group, to which Europa Press had access.
Among the new features of this edition, People over 65 years of age will also be able to purchase tickets with the discount online, and not only at the box office.and an advertising campaign has been agreed in which exhibitors and distributors will participate, together with the Ministry of Culture.
Urtasun has assured that cinema is a “key” sector for culture and has recalled that it has been more difficult for movie theaters to recover after the pandemic, partly due to the drop in audiences over 65 years of age, as he has pointed out. “Our fundamental objective is to guarantee cultural rights to the entire population and throughout the territory“he stressed.
Regarding the first edition, the minister pointed out that it was a “real success” because attendance increased by 49 percent on Tuesdays., in relation to the previous year, going from 2.7 million viewers to four million. In addition, he added that attendance on Tuesdays grew twice as much as the rest of the days of the week.