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A Visit to the "Phenomena Experience" in Barcelona |
Read more at in70mm.com The 70mm Newsletter
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Written and photographed by: Thomas Hauerslev |
Date:
08.11.2019 |
Manager
of the Phenomena Mr Nacho Cerdá and the Cinemaccanica Victoria 8 70mm
projector.
Months
ahead of a recent Barcelona Holiday in Spain, I
had contacted the Phenomena cinema in the hope that a short visit could be
organized, as I wanted to report about "70mm in Spain". The Manager of the
Phenomena Mr Nacho Cerdá (b. 1969) replied, and I was most welcome to come and
take pictures. Nacho has a passion for cinema and film, and maintains the
only operational 70mm cinema in Spain.
Phenomena, The Ultimate Cinematic Experience, is passionately managed by
Nacho, who rented the cinema some 10 years ago. Since then, Nacho has spent more than 1,5
million EUR refurbishing and upgrading the cinema to meet the highest
standards in comfort and projection.
• Go to Gallery:
Phenomena Cinema, Barcelona, Spain
• Go to
Gallery: 70mm Adverts and Posters
The "Phenomena Experience" cinema in c/ Sant Antoni Maria Claret, 168, Barcelona dates back to 1963. The cinema has been rebuilt a couple of times.
That includes being split up into several screens, and back again into a
single screen cinema.
According to Nacho, the
"Phenomena Experience" is regarded as the premium cinema by the film
production community in Barcelona, and many local film makers are premiering their
latest films at the Phenomena. The Phenomena is equipped for 4K digital
presentation and Dolby Atmos presentation. Originally Narcho wanted to
show only repertoire program of classic films, but that quickly turned out
not to be economically feasible. During our visit,
"Joker" and
"Once Upon a Time in
Hollywood" was on the program - albeit shown digitally. All films are primarily shown in their
original language versions, with Spanish subtitles.
Since taking up 70mm projection not many years ago, the Phenomena have shown a good selection of
recent 70mm premieres like
"The Hateful Eight" in Ultra Panavision 70,
"Dunkirk" and
"Murder on the Orient
Express".
"Dunkirk" had its Spanish premiere with Director Christopher
Nolan in attendance, and that presented its own set of challenges. Warner Brothers spent two days setting up and aligning
Phenomena's 70mm projection and sound to the highest standards.
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More in 70mm reading:
Gallery: Phenomena Cinema, Barcelona, Spain
Gallery: 70mm Adverts and Posters
The Urgel Cinema,
Barcelona, Spain
3-strip in Barcelona,
Spain
2001: a space
odyssey Campaign
New DP70 information
from Spain - #850, #1708 and #1717
DP70 in Spain
Internet link:
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"Phenomena Experience" is a 1-screen cinema with 450 seats,
14 curved rows, and a big 15
meter floating screen with a modest CinemaScope curve.
From
the street a large facade with red US-made letters presenting the movie title, invites the audience inside
to buy the tickets. Two ticket counters and five large glass doors with
glass-engraved "Welcome to Phenomena. The Ultimate Cinema Experience" signs
welcome the audience as they enter. "Reality Ends Here", says a big rug on
the floor. First part of the foyer has a red carpet, and a surprise carpet
with the characteristic pattern taken out of the Overlook Hotel as seen in the
"The Shining". A vintage 35mm
projector is on display as well as vintage movie posters.
Show your ticket and you are led into the next room with a bar, nice clean toilets and
two entrances to the cinema. A big sign "Phenomena" illuminates the foyer. The
audience can sit in comfortable chairs and chat, having a beer, while they wait to enter the cinema.
Red carpets everywhere.
"Phenomena Experience" is a 1-screen cinema with 450 seats,
14 curved rows, and a big 15
meter floating screen with a modest CinemaScope curve. The cinema color
scheme in
mainly black, with black seats, black walls, and red carpets.
Covering the screen is a "Cinerama" red curtain. A unique feature is a
second white transparent curtain between the screen and the red curtain.
The screen is back-lit around the edges with white LEDs, and with the white
fabric, it produces a magical sense of illumination. This effect is used
for films with overtures - like "The Hateful Eight".
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"Welcome to Phenomena. The Ultimate Cinema Experience. Reality Ends Here"
Upstairs in the very clean two-level projection room, everything is perfectly organized with
enough room to make it a comfortable working space for the projectionist.
One Cinemeccanica Victoria 8 machine with all 35mm digital sound readers
(DTS/DATASAT, SDDS and Dolby Digital) is installed next to the digital projector. The Vic 8
machine is permanently set up for DATASAT 70mm of course. Phenomena can also
play 6-track magnetic stereo, and 35mm optical sound from two different
readers. The Academy Award winning Kinoton ST270 non-rewind platter is
sitting behind the machine. Two large sound racks provide space for all
necessary sound processors, and amplifiers.
As we left the projection room, Nacho showed us the administration, and
explained how they make all advertising material by themselves. After one
hour my wife and I said goodbye to Nacho, and thanked him for a nice tour of
the Phenomena. The next show was about to begin.
The Phenomena is the only active 70mm cinema on the Iberian peninsula. Do
not forget to visit if you are in Barcelona. The
next 70mm premiere is expected to be
Nolan's
espionage thriller “Tenet” in
July 2020.
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In 70mm at the Phenomena
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• VERTIGO
• HAMLET
• THE HATEFUL EIGHT
• INTERSTELLAR
• DUNKIRK
• BATMAN (1989)
• 2001: AS SPACE ODYSSEY
• THE SOUND OF MUSIC
• LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
• MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS
• Go to Gallery:
Phenomena Cinema, Barcelona, Spain
• Go to
Gallery: 70mm Adverts and Posters
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28-07-24 |
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