Film institute opens cinema exhibition in the street
Can Pistoles, the old name for the Capitol cinema, is attempting to show the graphic walls that it had in the past. The cinema institute, which is located along Las Ramblas, has made an exhibition which contains photographs and pictures from 1926-1989 as well as a video about the people who were involved in decorating the walls of the old cinema in the graphic style.
The biographer of the artist Antoni Clavé, who decorated the cinema, has said that the exhibition will help to reveal the painter’s work trajectory. It will also reveal information about the owner and innovator of public communication, Antoni Solé who had a role in the design of the cinema.
Solé wanted the viewer to connect with the film when they entered the room and so hired people to look like a character of the film being shown, in order to involve the audience before it began.
The cinema showed films of lots of well known genres such as horror, adventure, crime and westerns which was unusual at the time. The owner was also bold in his film choices and when films such as ‘El Judas’ were released, they were initially banned for being inappropriate. The creation of the cinema was clearly expensive as films were shown in many rooms and were made by lots of different film companies.
The cinema Can Pistoles is now named Club Capitol and has become a theatre, not a cinema. The graphic advertisements on the walls no longer exist and now the building is covered in scaffolding which hides what used to be on the walls behind. However, the current exhibition shows the visitor a little about the publicity of the cinema and the city at the time which is now hidden.
If you want an amazing outside cinema experience have a look at our blog which tells you where to go.
