Non-stop cinema: 18 art house cinemas will launch an Austria-wide cinema subscription in March 2023.
The initiators have already been working on a flat-rate cinema subscription for two years in order to create an attractive and sustainable offer for all film lovers. A total of eighteen cinemas across Austria have joined forces to implement this project collectively. In autumn 2022 they founded a joint association and subsequently the executive nonstop GmbH. The former Kinoabo project manager Martin Kitzberger is the managing director of nonstop.
With nonstop, the participating cinemas are also creating a system of collaboration and mutual support – the future subscription revenues will directly benefit the cinemas. The subscription thus has a positive effect on cinematic diversity in Austria. In the initial phase, nonstop will also be supported by national and European funding bodies.
Inspiration was found in the cooperation of other European arthouse cinemas, such as the Dutch subscription model “Cineville”. nonstop initiator and managing director of the Vienna City Cinema, Wiktoria Pelzer, on her motivation to bring this concept to Austria: “The idea of such a cooperation between cinemas, which leads to a strong identification with arthouse cinemas and high membership numbers, was unique for me. Cineville members were the first to flock back to the cinema even after the lockdowns. Since then, the desire to implement this concept in Austria has stayed with me.”
Cinema culture will change with nonstop cinema subscription
The initiators are convinced that the nonstop cinema subscription will also bring about a change in “going to the cinema” itself: Through the subscription, one will be able to rediscover lovingly curated films and cinemas, which in the best case will become favourite films and cinemas. “The nonstop subscription brings together the whole diversity of international arthouse cinema and Austrian filmmaking,” emphasises Michael Stejskal, managing director of the Votiv Kino and board member of the nonstop association. “Whether big screen or small intimate auditorium, whether new films by Greta Gerwig or Marie Kreutzer, by Ruben Östl and or Josef Hader, whether three-hour epic or short film programme, whether feature film or documentary, whether experimental form or children’s film – There are now no limits to the joy of discovering the whole cosmos of sophisticated cinema,” adds Stejskal.
The cinema operators involved in the nonstop Kinoabo between Vienna and Innsbruck see the future of cinema as a fixed social point: “With the nonstop Kinoabo, we are putting the cinema back at the centre as a social place. At the cinema I can go on a date and feel like a teenager again, reward myself alone or with friends after a long day at work and have a beer or two afterwards to “debrief”. I can spend whole Sunday afternoons sinking into the cinema seat or end balmy summer evenings with a film under the stars. And I share all these moments with the nonstop community, which celebrates and lives the magic of cinema,” says Thomas Pacher, managing director of the Cinematograph Leokino in Innsbruck and board member of the nonstop cinema association, looking forward to the launch.
Launch of the nonstop cinema subscription:
Pre-sale launch:
15 February 2023
Cinema subscription start: 9 March 2023
All sales (incl. advance sales) exclusively online at https://nonstopkino.at/
Cost:
Under 26s: 22 euros per month (commitment 4 months).
26+ years: 24 euros per month (8 months)
Annual subscription: 264 euros (equivalent to 22 euros per month)
Participating cinemas
Vienna: Admiral Kino, Burg Kino, DeFrance, Filmcasino, Filmhaus am Spittelberg, Gartenbaukino, Stadtkino im Künstlerhaus, Top Kino, Schikaneder, Votiv Kino,
Lower Austria: Kino im Kesselhaus Krems
Upper Austria: Moviemento, City Kino, Kino Freistadt
Styria: KIZ RoyalKino
Salzburg: Das Kino
Tyrol: Leokino, Cinematograph
Photocredits: Minitta Kandlbauer, Adrian Almasan