BEST ENTREPRENEUR:
ENRIQUE GONZALEZ MACHO, CINES RENOIR / ALTA FILMS(SPAIN)

20 Years of Dynamism

Since the first Renoir cinema opened in Madrid in 1986, Enrique González Macho has not stopped developing arthouse cinema across Spain, from Madrid to Tenerife, spanning Barcelona, Bilbao, Palma and Zaragoza. Today, the Renoir network counts 65 screens and 2.5 million admissions per year. Enrique Gonzales Macho started his career as a distributor before switching to exhibition, where he's demonstrated a knack for finding the key to success in each of the locations he's created, with an accent on conviviality and diversity of films on offer. Their characteristic spirit of independence has established these film theatres as a bastion of European cinema, which comprises 70% of their programming. The film with the longest run was All About My Mother, projected for 57 consecutive weeks in Madrid.

In a highly competitive market, the Renoir network is distinctive for its choice of the original version, a rarity in the country. To reach foreign, non Spanish-speaking audiences, he doesn't hesitate to present Spanish films subtitled in English. A way of standing out from the crowd.

In 2006, he opened a new complex with 7 screens and 1,300 seats on the Canary Islands, located in a historic cinema which he took over and entirely refurbished. To guarantee maximum comfort, he did not hesitate to reduce capacity by 400 seats. Admissions have now reached 2,500 per week and are still growing. Today, Enrique Gonzales Macho is working on a new concept which he plans to test 90 kilometres from Madrid, a Renoir space with 4 theatres in a general-interest multiplex with 13 screens in all. While the interior and ticket counter will be shared by both entities, the programming and decoration of the Renoir space will be distinct from the rest of the multiplex. "Outside the big cities, it's sometimes difficult to create locations exclusively dedicated to arthouse films," he explains. "This concept should allow us to offer a wide variety of films, and to redeem costs more easily by taking advantage of the dynamic of the entire site." If successful, he plans to create a Renoir franchise in other cinemas in Spain.

(November 2006)

www.cinesrenoir.com
www.altafilms.com