Reykjavík Grapevine - Mar 2020, Page 13

13 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 03— 2020
thing to make money off of, because a
non-profit operation like Bíó Paradís
can never generate enough money for
anyone to make a profit off of renting
them their space."
Once the lease agreement with the
building’s previous owners had run its
course, Karl Mikli ehf. moved forward
with their plans to raise the rent,
which would endanger the future of the
cinema. This sparked the public outcry
in recent months to save Bíó Paradís—
outcry that apparently even the new
landlords have sat up and taken notice of.
“According to what I hear from the
city and the ministries, they value this
and they want this, and I am in full
negotiations with them,” Hrönn says.
“I'm still waiting to hear which ways
they want to go. Even the owners have
sensed that it is in their best interests
to solve this matter. They've realised
they're dealing with a level of public
outrage that they didn't expect, and
they really don't want to be the bad guy
here. We've had friendly talks. They
want to solve this."
What solu-
tions are
there?
Amongst the ideas that have arisen is
the idea that Bíó Paradís could move
to a new location. Hrönn is not exactly
thrilled with the idea, nor does she think
crowdfunding is a permanent solution.
"We've been building this place up,
and the concept of being downtown,
close to other cultural venues, in the
midst of life downtown,” she says.
“We're in that mix of where people
come and gather. Some people start
their evenings here. That's a big part
about being a cinema. This is not just
about rooms to screen films in. It's
much more than that. It's this social
space, this community. It's gracious
of them to offer [a new space for Bíó
Paradís], but it's not the kind of thing
we've been building here.”
“Crowdfunding and such are nice,”
she continues, “but it is limited. I
don't want to take people's money
and put it into little plasters here and
there. We've been hanging on here for
ten years now, and there are so many
changes we need to make. We can't
even let disabled people into halls 2
and 3, which I find shameful, I cannot
stress that enough."
For now, Hrönn’s feelings about the
situation run the gamut from opti-
mism to despair.
"I have every reason to be hopeful,
but the reality is that I have been call-
ing and notifying all our suppliers to
stop everything on May 1st and that's
our plan still today,” she says. “It's really
weird, because that date gets closer
every day. I go from being extremely
hopeful in the morning to lying awake
in bed at night and thinking 'oh god,
this is it.’"
Ultimately, Hrönn—like a great
many Reykjavík residents, and people
from around the world—remain
committed to the survival Bíó Paradís,
and are hopeful the matter can be
resolved.
"I get a lot of international guests,
and people gasp over not just the hand-
made posters on the walls, but also the
atmosphere,” she says. “Foreign jour-
nalists and people in the film industry
love it, that they can walk into a cinema
like this. So we're not only the only
arthouse near the Arctic Circle; we're
one of the best arthouses there are.
We're the only one in this isolated area
of the planet, and we've been able to do
that, so it's insane that this would just
shut down. For all the problems with
this building, you might see these big
cinemas with all their fancy gear, but
they don't have this."