Success story — Kino Bize in Latvia
Thank you Paula Bērziņa (Kino Bize, Programme and Project Manager) for contributing to this interview.
Kino Bize was founded in 2012 as a small arthouse cinema theatre in the centre of Latvia’s capital city Riga. The programming embraces challenging, vibrant and independent films and videos as well as theme retrospectives, educational programmes and special events.
Kino Bize has two to five screenings every day, in addition, we organise youth cinema school, events for children and families, and host Riga Pasaules Film Festival and Design Film Festival Latvia. Kino Bize has taken part in all significant film festivals and cultural events in Latvia and is one of the most recognised cinemas alongside the mainstream offer. Since 2013 we have expanded our activities becoming also a film distributor in Latvia.
Why did you join eyelet and how does having your own VOD help achieve your objectives?
We joined shortly after the sudden changes in mid-March, 2020 when we had to announce that the cinema theatre is closed to the public. Thanks to a friend from cinema Kino Deli in Vilnius, we got advice just before the first closure to contact an online platform eyelet and start our own Home Cinema.
We have distributed a few art-house films a year to expand our programming possibilities that tend to be limited in smaller markets. During the years we have accumulated around 30 titles that after the theatrical distribution was simply resting on hard drives. We wanted to have an online platform earlier but there was never the time to focus on that, but after the first lockdown, there was all the time and motivation required.
Why has your VOD been successful?
We mostly rely on social media — we publish regularly on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and occasionally boost them. We learned that short clips from films have good publicity results, our followers like and share them, or save to watch the film later. At one point we started focusing more on special events as it felt that an online film catalogue on its own doesn’t provide the required outcome. We did video recordings of conversations with different guests, small lectures and discussions that complemented specific films or programmes.
Our own VOD has definitely helped us a lot as we can still communicate with our audience and offer various new titles, film classics and special programmes although the cinema is closed. Additionally, we have expanded our audience because our films online have been watched in remote parts of Latvia.
What campaigns have been successful, what not?
For a small market like Latvia, releasing 4 to 6 art house films a week in beginning was a lot, after a few weeks, our Home Cinema catalogue had more than 50 art house titles from all over the world, which has grown up to almost 100 films now. For the first few months, we experienced a lot of attention from both Kino Bize followers, loyal attendees, as well as the media, but later we realised that if we do not regularly talk about our online catalogue on social media, the views drop by almost 80%. After the second lock-down in November 2020, we moved the cinema events to Home Cinema as well, including Children mornings with workshop (required materials sent by post) and Film classics with film critics having talks before the screenings. European Cinema Night was a good test for organising a bigger event with introductions and Q&A.
The releases of recent Latvian films have been successful and drawn more attention from media and audiences that gives us an opportunity to be one of the main online platforms in Latvia providing national and non-national art house titles.
Now when the world is opening up more and cinemas are reopened, how will you continue to use your VOD and stay relevant?
We have learned that an online platform can coexist with a cinema theatre, they can complement each other. We are very eager to have our cinema doors open to the public, but nevertheless, we think that by constantly updating the Home Cinema catalogue with films, lectures, talks and workshops, we can reach a wider audience. Our cinema theatre has a fixed location, but the online platform can be used all over Latvia, which is not only crucial for more rural areas but to specific target groups as well, who for some reason can’t attend events in person like young parents, persons with disabilities and large school groups.
What is the most important lesson you have learned in this journey?
The most important lesson is that VOD might not be a threat to cinemas, it can be an opportunity to expand programming and develop audiences.
Check out their online cinema at http://www.kinobize.lv/.
