Wedding videos save struggling cinema

A small cinema in Puglia, southern Italy, has found a secret weapon to help it fight back against large multiplex movie theatres.

The Odeon cinema in the seaside town of Molfetta has started showing wedding videos. The first film was a sell-out as friends and family of a local newlywed couple arrived to cheer themselves as they appeared on the silver screen.

Fifty wedding parties have already booked to watch videos of their big day. The Odeon's future is now looking much safer, despite the opening of a multiplex on the outskirts of town.

"I went to the Odeon as a kid and it's great to be doing something now to keep alive a cinema that you can still walk to with your own childre," said Roberto Pansini, 30, who came up with the idea while working at a local advertising agency.

The people of Puglia take weddings very seriiously and often invite hundreds to celebrate. But couples find it difficult to get all the guests around a television to watch the obligatory video.

"Now they hand over about $440 to rent the cinema, with cocktails included if they ask," he added.

"It is so popular we are even taking bookings for wedding anniversary parties. People are thrilled to see themselves on a cinema screen."

Multiplex cinemas, often in out-of-town shopping centres, have expanded rapidly across Europe since the early 1990s and have swept away thousands of histoic city-centre screens.

The 360-seat Odeon is the only one of four cinemas once open in the centre of Molfetta that still exists. It survives on a council grant and stages music concerts and theatre performances as well as films.

"The competition from the multiplex has hit really hard, but if this idea works out, I plan to market it around the other small Italian cinemas in peril," said Pansini.

Lesson Plan

Put six small lines on the board - - - - - -. Play hangman until students guess the theme of the lesson - "cinema". Ask the class if they know what a multiplex cinema is - a large cinema with more than one screen. Also pre-teach movie theatre, screen - ?? mins

Put students into small groups with one student as note taker. Explain that the following task is based on a real life situation. - 12 mins

Tell the students they are now going to read a real-life story. They will come back to their plan later. Dictate the quesiton below. Give out the article. STudents read and answer questions. Class feedback. - 10 mins

1. Where is the small cinema?
2. What videos does it show?
3. Who had the new idea?
4. Is the idea a success?

Write up the following sentences, which all containone mistake. Students read again and correct the mistakes. - 8 mins

1. A multiplex cinema in Puglia has started showing wedding videos.
2. Twenty groups have booked to watch videos at the cinema.
3. Robert Pansini thought of the new idea while working at a local theatre.
4. The cinema is now taking bookings for burthday parites.
5. Multiplex cinemas are often in town centres.
6. There were once six cinemas in the centre of Molfetts.
7. Pansini plans to take his idea to other small European cinemas.

Put students into their groups to discuss their plan again. Highlight phrases for presenting ideas - we're going to, we're planning to, we're hoping to. The note taker writes up the final plan with the help of the group. They must add one new idea from the article, eg serve cocktails, and refer back to the text for help with voabulary. One student from each groups presents their ideas. Finally discuss which cinema will be the most successful. - 25 mins