Once they assembled full halls: the wilted beauty of Cuba's old movie theaters

Before the revolution, Cuba was the golden era of cinema. Only in Havana in 1953 there were 134 cinemas, in Paris and in New York in the mid-1950s there were much fewer such establishments. About 700 cinemas and theaters operated throughout the island. Going to the cinema was one of Cuban’s favorite pastimes of all ages.

Then most of the cinemas belonged to American companies. After the completion of the Cuban revolution, they all became empty and began to decline. The regime has changed in the country, and society has changed. Only a small part of these cinemas works today, most of them have been remade into some kind of our creative houses, where local dance and theater groups are engaged, others are generally abandoned. Italian photographer Carolina Sandretto spent four years in Cuba and during that time put together a collection of photographs of what remains of the golden era of cinema.

In the 1950s, more cinemas operated in Cuba than in some major cities in America and Europe.

With the establishment of socialism, most of them turned into places for rehearsals of creative groups.

However, there are those that are still abandoned.

Despite the fact that cinema has not been shown in these walls for many years, you can still see their former beauty in the buildings.

Today, Cuba has 19 cinemas, all of which are equipped to show digital cinema.

Karl Marx is a movie theater that works today.

And this is the Riviera, which was opened in Havana back in 1946. She still gathers a full hall.

And another local cinema Yara, which survived the Cuban revolution.

Carolina Sandretto took photos of more than three hundred establishments.

Some of them were very difficult to find, but the locals, especially the elderly, willingly helped the photographer: they still have warm memories of the golden era of cinema.