KINO Rotterdam is a movie theatre founded in 2016 and situated in the center of Rotterdam. We seek to combine independent arthouse titles with quality Hollywood fare but we also focus on rediscovering cinematic history with retrospectives and special programming.
Our audience consists mainly of 20 to 35 year-old cinephiles, but also the more traditional movie theatre audience. We strongly believe in the commercial potential of repertory and special programming when done right. We try to translate our love for cinema, by creating events, giving introductions/presentations, organizing parties and concerts and/or incorporate our fine dining restaurant. We create our own marketing content, we design posters for our classic programming, we interview directors during the International Film Festival Rotterdam for our audiences, and – most importantly – we create custom made trailers for our specials. These have been very successful tools to attract these young audiences, for both classic and newer titles, and keeping them engaged to become loyal cinema visitors.
This year we even took the content creation to the next level and ventured into something brand new: we produced our own documentary. The Nederlands Fotomuseum is one of our partners and a few months ago we were told they manage the archive of Dutch photographer Chas Gerretsen, who was one of the setphotographers of Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. When we visited and saw hundreds of never before seen photos and we’re amazed that we were the ones to make this discovery, exactly on the 40th anniversary of the film. The idea was to organize an exhibition, but there were so many photos, and Chas, the photographer, was coming to the Netherlands and was willing to work with us. This resulted in the documentary Dutch Angle: Chas Gerretsen & Apocalypse Now which can be seen in KINO. It also received a lot of attention in the national and international press, The Guardian and La Corriere delle Serra wrote about it and it premiered at Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna. Later this year, the documentary will be screened in other countries and possibly even a national release through EYE Filminstitute.
Züleyha Azman, Marketing Director KINO Rotterdam
Find out more about KINO Rotterdam Ambassador here:
