FIFTEEN years after re-opening, the Pantheon cinema in Nicosia will be screening for the final time on Sunday.
Owner George Papageorgiou, said yesterday, “it’s sad as my family has been in the cinema business for a very long time. We are in fact closing 62 years, to the day, that my grandfather opened the Ireon Cinema in Famagusta.”
Papageorgiou, 37, explained the decision to close was down to several reasons. “Piracy is really hitting us hard,” he said. “Young people today can buy pirate DVDs and videos very cheaply, meaning we have lost a lot of customers.”
He added that he must pay 15 per cent VAT on every ticket sold as well as a massive 20 per cent municipality tax. “Since 1990, the Pantheon has paid more than £1 million pounds in municipality taxes.”
Papageorgiou also cited unfair distribution by film studios as a factor that had affected his business. “Major companies nowadays favour the K Cineplex in Strovolos due to its commerciality. We have no control over our cinema. We’re told what films to show and for how long and this takes away our independence. Even advertisements are organised and executed by the major film studios and their respective representatives in Cyprus. If you have no control over your own business, then you should get out of it.”
The Pantheon has been in the Papageorgiou family since the 1950s when it was an open-air cinema. It was converted in 1979 but closed for five years in 1985, again due to problems with piracy. It has screened all types of films, from big Hollywood blockbusters to Greek and European films. The main source of income has always been from the food and drink sold at the bar.
Papageorgiou believes other cinemas around the capital will also be forced to close as the K Cineplex now has 75-80 per cent of the Nicosia market. “If other cinemas also close, and I believe they will, it will be bad news for the cinema industry in general, as the K Cineplex will be the only place to go. This is not a healthy situation. We are now in the era of fast-food cinema. Many people don’t even remember what they saw only a few hours ago and youngsters treat the cinema as a meeting point in their social lives.”
