Pongrácz Erzsébet: The Cinemas of Budapest - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1998)

A hundred years separate the first moving picture show from the multiplex cinema. In the course of the 20th century everything has changed from the raw material of films to their colour, sound and the technologies used in making them. The scene and method of projection have also changed, and the audience itself has become very different - the overawed, incredulous, terrified viewer of the past has been replaced by the perceptive, discerning cinema- goer. The interior of the cinema has undergone changes, too. Today’s enormous screens, superior image and sound technologies can create an illusion of direct audience participation.

Everything has, without a doubt, changed utterly.

Or has it?

Television and videos here, cinemascope and multiplex there... but the cinema has remained the cinema.

The snug little nook where we can hide on a bad day.

A space where we can be other than what we are.

A fleeting moment from a different life, a moment of being alone or falling in love.

A missed heart beat of no serious consequence when we can feel the thrill of the fantastic or the horrific.

The whole world has changed around us but be that as it may - the cinema is still THE CINEMA.

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