Cirko Gejzír Movie Theater

The idea for the Cirkó Gejzír Movie Theater emerged in 1992 from the minds of four good college friends, Adél Rózsavölgyi, László Bíró, Gábor Bernáth and Péter Balassa, who dreamed of a cinema that would present films to the public that were not shown by the major distributors.

First, they established the Mászkép Alapítvány (“Different Foundation”) in January 1993, which included film distribution area and then their first cinema, located in the 8th district in Budapest.

The Cirkó Gejzír Movie Theater opened on 19th May 1994, in a basement space, with the 50-seat auditorium becoming well-known as the smallest cinema in Europe. (The name likens cinema to a circus.)

In 1996, the landlord wanted to convert the premises into a restaurant. Negotiations took place, but no agreement could be reached to retain the cinema, and it closed with the founders' favourite films on 9-10 October 1998.

Fortunately, they had already been able to secure further premises, in the 5th district, just off the city centre, where there was room for two auditoriums.

The present day Cirkó Gejzír Movie Theater opened on 30th October 1998, with the Iranian romantic mystery “Gabbeh”.

With assistance from grants, a digital projector was acquired on 1st June 2013. That October, Screen 3 was opened.

In 2017, all three auditoriums underwent a complete replacement of the seats. A laser projector was installed in Screen 3 in April 2018, and Screen 2 received a Barco projector in June of the same year. In March 2019, a Barco projector was installed in Screen 1.

The cinema’s entrance is understated, to say the least! It is once again in a basement space, albeit accessed by a rather more welcoming staircase. The relatively spacious foyer has an Ernemann VII/B projector on display.

Seating capacities are: Screen 1:50, Screen 2:28 and Screen 3:30. (How times have changed since the days when a 50 seat auditorium was regarded as something extraordinary!)

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