Cine Cosmos is a restored

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ** Filmmaking, the process of making a film * Movie theate ...

Avenida Corrientes Avenida Corrientes () is one of the principal thoroughfares of the Argentina, Argentine capital of Buenos Aires. Over a central stretch it is popularly known as "The Street that Never Sleeps" (''"La calle que nunca duerme"'') widely considered B ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, Argentina. Originally inaugurated as Cine Cataluña in 1929, it became known under its current name in the 1960s for its showings of alternative

Soviet cinema The cinema of the Soviet Union includes films produced by the constituent republics of the Soviet Union reflecting elements of their pre-Soviet culture, language and history, albeit they were all regulated by the central government in Moscow. ...

. Since 2010 it has been owned and operated by the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...

, Argentina's largest university.

History

The building that now houses Cine Cosmos was originally designed by Belgian architect Albert Bourdon for the ''Cine-Teatro Cataluña''. The

Art deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

building was built by engineer Jacques América and his construction company, and was first owned by Mrs. Fabrus and Mrs. Montardit. In 1955, it was bought by businessman Argentino Vainikoff, owner of the

distribution company Artkino Pictures, which had been founded in 1937. Between 1947 and 1951, Soviet films had been banned in Argentina by decree of

Raúl Apold Raúl Alejandro Apold (1898-1980) was the propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage ...

, press chief of President

Juan Domingo Perón ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of '' John''. The name is of Hebrew origin and has the meaning "God has been gracious." It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries around the world and in the Philip ...

. The censorship ended in 1951 due to lobbying efforts by Vainikoff and presidential secretary Martín Carlos Martínez, who convinced Perón to overturn the ban. On 30 August 1966, the cinema was reopened under the name of Cine Cosmos 70 (a reference to

70 mm film 70 mm film (or 65 mm film) is a wide high-resolution film gauge for motion picture photography, with a negative area nearly 3.5 times as large as the standard 35 mm motion picture film format. As used in cameras, the film is wid ...

). The first projection was a showing of the French film

Dominique "Dominique" is a 1963 French language popular song, written and performed by Belgian singer Jeannine Deckers, better known as Sœur Sourire ("Sister Smile" in French) or The Singing Nun. The song is about Saint Dominic, a Spanish-born priest an ...

, by

Yvan Noé Yvan Noé (1895–1963) was a French playwright, screenwriter and film director.Driskell p.146 He was married to the actress Pierrette Caillol who sometimes performed alongside him. Selected filmography * ''Gloria'' (1931) * '' Mademoiselle Moza ...

. The first successful showing, however, was of the Czechoslovak film The Shop on Main Street, by

Ján Kadár Ján Kadár (1 April 1918 – 1 June 1979) was a Slovak film writer and director of Jewish heritage. As a filmmaker, he worked in Czechoslovakia, the United States, and Canada. Most of his films were directed in tandem with Elmar Klos. The two b ...

and

Elmar Klos Elmar Klos (26 January 1910 – 19 July 1993) was a Czech film director. He collaborated for 17 years with his Slovak colleague Ján Kadár and with him won the 1965 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for the film '' The Shop on Main Stree ...

—the film was featured for twenty-three consecutive weeks. The cinema continued to feature Eastern European films, such as ''

The Cranes Are Flying ''The Cranes Are Flying'' (, translit. ''Letyat zhuravli'') is a 1957 Soviet war drama film directed by Mikhail Kalatozov at Mosfilm, written by Viktor Rozov, and starring Aleksey Batalov and Tatiana Samoilova. It depicts the cruelty an ...

'', ''

Closely Watched Trains ''Closely Watched Trains'' (') is a 1966 Czechoslovakian New Wave coming-of-age comedy film directed by Jiří Menzel and is one of the best-known films of the Czechoslovak New Wave. It was released in the United Kingdom as ''Closely Observed Tr ...

'', ''

Loves of a Blonde ''Loves of a Blonde'' (), also known as ''A Blonde in Love'', is a 1965 Czechoslovak romantic comedy-drama film directed by Miloš Forman that follows a young woman, Andula, who has a routine job in a shoe factory in provincial Czechoslovakia, an ...

'', ''

Lemonade Joe ''Lemonade Joe, or the Horse Opera'' () is a 1964 Czechoslovak musical comedy film, directed by Oldřich Lipský and written by Jiří Brdečka, based on his novel and stage play. A parody of the American Western, the film centers on a clean-livi ...

'', and ''

The Cold Summer of 1953 ''The Cold Summer of 1953'' () is a 1988 Soviet crime thriller Film directed by Aleksandr Proshkin. The film is set during the tumultuous period directly after the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953. It was the last film starring the Soviet actor Anat ...

''. Soviet classics such as ''

War and Peace ''War and Peace'' (; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, the work comprises both a fictional narrative and chapters in which Tolstoy discusses history and philosophy. An ...

'' and ''

Battleship Potemkin '' Battleship Potemkin'' (, ), sometimes rendered as ''Battleship Potyomkin'', is a 1925 Soviet silent epic film produced by Mosfilm. Directed and co-written by Sergei Eisenstein, it presents a dramatization of the mutiny that occurred in 1905 ...

'' were also featured during special cycles. The cinema's preference for films from Eastern Europe during the Cold War led to the Argentine government to associate it with the Communist Party, an allegation Vainikoff denied throughout his life. Cine Cosmos closed for the first time toward the end of 1987. The premises were occupied by a nightclub by the name of "Halley" until 26 November 1997, when the cinema reopened at the hands of an 87-year old Vainikoff. Following Vainikoff's death in 2003, his children Luis and Alba took on the cinema, until they were forced to sell the place in 2006. Proposals for the building to become a hotel were never materialized. In December 2009,

rector Rubén Hallú announced the university would purchase the cinema by $2.5 million USD. Cine Cosmos stands next to the

Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas The Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas ("Ricardo Rojas Cultural Center") is a cultural center in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is owned and operated by the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), the country's largest university. It is named after journalist a ...

, a cultural center owned and run by the university. The following year, in November 2010, the cinema finally re-opened as ''Cine Cosmos UBA''. The Cine Cosmos UBA has served as one of the venues for the independent film festival

BAFICI The Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI, ) is an international Film festival, festival of independent films organized each year in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. History The festival had its first edition in A ...

in 2011, 2012 and 2022.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1929 establishments in Argentina Art Deco architecture in Argentina Buildings and structures in Buenos Aires Cinemas in Argentina University of Buenos Aires