Every cinema lover knows that the best conversations take place in the foyer!

Foyer Conversations, a new podcast series from Cinema of Commoning, aims to capture the spirit of those probing, freewheeling and inspiring discussions we have immediately before and after a film screening.

Cinemas, especially those with long, complex histories, can become potent vessels for collective memory within the communities in which they operate. However, shifting geo-politics, unstable economic circumstances and the threat of gentrification mean that independent cinemas often also operate under a constant threat of demolition, as architecture becomes an instrument of ideology. 

In our fifth episode, Foyer Conversations: Cinema, Memory and Demolition, we examine the stories of two cinemas which, when threatened with demolition, became the site of public protest and resistance amongst the local community. 

As the case studies of Emek Movie Theatre and Kino Lumbardhi suggest, the struggle to save a cinema can serve as a symbol for a wider struggle – a fight for representation, for heritage, for history.  For this episode we wanted to bring together these two cinemas with first hand experience of this kind of collective struggle, alongside Natalia Kvitkova, an academic, who researches the role of architecture in community creation and erasure. 

Our conversation explored the collision between cultural heritage and capitalist values, and also touched upon the aftermath of both successful and unsuccessful attempts to save a much loved cinema from demolition.

Natália Kvítková was born in Piešťany, SK and fled with her parents to Canada as political refugees shortly before the Velvet Revolution. She is an independent researcher and writer, working at the intersection of urban sociology, cultural history and post-war architecture. She currently holds the position of xxx at KU Leuven in Belgium.

Fırat Yücel is a member of Emek Bizim İstanbul Bizim (Emek is Ours, Istanbul is Ours), an initiative which was formed in 2009 to demonstrate against the demolition of the Emek Movie Theater in Beyoğlu, Istanbul. Video and sound recordings of the demonstrations, organized by activists and artists involved in the resistance movement were turned into the documentary Audience Emancipated: The Struggle for the Emek Movie Theater (2016). Even though the cinema was demolished in 2017, the group have continued to carry out activities to raise public awareness about the decision to demolish Emek Cinema, most prominently, through their online platform, emeksinemasi.blogspot.com. 

Ares Shporta is a cultural worker, producer and researcher situated between Kosovo and Albania. Since 2015, as co-founder and director of Lumbardhi Foundation, he has been leading the institutional transformation of Prizren’s iconic Kino Lumbardhi, a cinema and arts space located in the historic center of Prizren, Kosovo. Established in 1952, the cinema was saved from demolition and privatization after two civil initiatives in 2007 and 2014, and is now run by the Lumbardhi Foundation.

Episode Five is now available to listen and download worldwide on Spotify, Deezer, Apple Podcasts and Podcast Index.

Foyer Conversations is a podcast series from Cinema of Commoning.
Episode Five was initiated by Gülsen Namıduru.
It was presented and produced by Eirini Fountedaki, Gülsen Namıduru and Rachel Pronger.