National Cinema Days vary in duration, discounts and frequency across countries, showcasing their adaptability to cultural contexts. From a one-day event to a five-day celebration, a yearly or a biannual event, organising special contests or involving sponsors, there is a different recipe for every market. We’re featuring below a sample of such events.
In France the 39th edition of the Fête du Cinéma took place from 30 June to 3 July 2024 and was a record-breaking edition. It registered 4.65 million admissions, 50% above 2023, becoming the best attended edition since its creation in 1985. This result was achieved thanks to French titles like Le Comte de Monte-Cristo and Un p'tit truc en plus, as well as US blockbusters like Inside Out 2.
In Germany the third edition of Kinofest was held on 7 and 8 September 2024. 1.2 million visitors attended the event, which was the best result achieved so far and the most visited weekend of the year. Over 700 cinemas took part in the initiative, which corresponds to a market share of over 90%.
In Poland the 9th edition of Święto Kina involved 273 cinemas, more than half of which were local and arthouse cinemas - for the first time widely represented in this initiative. During the last weekend of September, approximately 600,000 tickets were sold in the cinemas joining Święto Kina.
In Spain 1,394,058 spectators participated in the second edition of 2024 of the Fiesta del Cine, held from 4 to 7 November, which scored best attendance of the initiative since 2019. Therefore, the week of 1 to 8 November became the second-best week of the year in terms of admissions.
Cinema Days can also help highlight the social and health benefits of cinema-going. For the second edition of Finland’s Suuri leffapäivä (Great Movie Day) on 9 November the mental health organisation Mieli participated in the campaign. The goal was to highlight the mental health of young people and the beneficial effect of film on mental well-being. It turned out to be a very successful edition with 75,197 visitors, around 5,000 more than the first edition in Spring 2023 and 2.6 times more than on the Saturday before Suuri leffapäivä.
These nationwide initiatives are instrumental to attract not only regular, but also infrequent cinema-goers, when a strong and diverse offer of films is available, catering to all audiences. It’s all about celebrating cinema-going together!