The small Girona town that keeps the passion for cinema alive

BescanóIn Bescanó, a small town of just over 5,000 inhabitants located west of Girona, on the banks of the Ter river, dozens of residents gather every fortnight at the municipal theatre to enjoy an auteur cinema screening in its original version. They are organized by the Cineclub de Bescanó, an associative project founded 5 years ago, which now has 280 members and has held over 100 sessions. During this time, it has screened Hollywood classics, the best releases from independent European cinema, or the latest hits from Catalan cinema, featuring prominent names such as Marcel Barrena with El 47,Isaki Lacuesta with Segundo premio, Judith Colell with Frontera or Sergi López with Sirat. And always with a very good reception from the audience. The weekend of June 6 and 7, Bescanó will also host the XXI meeting of cineclubs from all over the Catalan Countries.

The project was conceived during the pandemic, when Pep Ribera, who had just arrived in town and already had experience in cineclubs in other locations, began to ask questions and contact cinema lovers. This led to a dossier and an agreement with the City Council. Currently, the council covers the expenses of the projection equipment and provides the theatre, while the cineclub assumes the cost of the film copies. The programming is decided by the association's board, which keeps an eye on new releases, international awards, and specialized critical reviews. Ribera, a true cinephile, who grew up watching Woody Allen films instead of Barça matches, is its president.

Cinema as a shared experience

and the session was managed by high school students, who gave an excellent presentation", comments Ribera. In five years, the number of members has tripled.

And it all works selflessly, without profit motive. The film club is not a commercial cinema; it doesn't sell tickets or agree on revenue percentages with distributors. Members pay an annual fee that gives them access to the sessions, and those who are not members can attend by making a one-time contribution of 7 euros. The rest of the income comes from local sponsors. "We are very happy because one of the handicaps that worried us was the age of the members. We had a quite high average age, but lately, a lot of young people have been coming. A few weeks ago, for example, we screened The imitation game and the session was managed by high school students, who gave an excellent presentation," comments Ribera. In five years, the number of members has tripled.

The good moment the cineclub is experiencing coincides with the difficulties of some local commercial cinemas, which are not going through their best moment and find it hard to hook the public with the big Hollywood blockbusters. "We have surprised ourselves. When we screened The Worst Person in the World, The consolidation of 'cineclubisme' throughout the Catalan Countries.The consolidation of 'cineclubism' throughout the Catalan Countries

And it's not just the Bescanó cineclub that's having a good moment, but rather projects like this are increasingly proliferating and consolidating everywhere. Currently, the Catalan Federation of Cineclubs brings together nearly 70 entities, most of them from Catalonia, but also from the Balearic Islands, the Valencian Country, Andorra, and even two Catalan centers in Latin America. The federation contributes to establishing relationships, organizes training activities, and helps with issues such as the management of exhibition rights. According to its data, the federated cineclubs brought together more than 150,000 spectators and organized more than 2,300 screenings during 2025. Among the events of the XXI Annual Meeting in Bescanó over the weekend, in addition to the assembly and celebrations, the presentation by Esteve Riambau, director of the Filmoteca de Catalunya for 10 years, on the Civil War documentaries by the production company Laya Films stands out: archive pieces of great historical value that all federated cineclubs have the right to screen thanks to a distribution agreement with the Filmoteca.

Àlex Portolés, president of the federation, summarizes the DNA that defines cineclubs as horizontal and popular meeting spaces: "Cineclubism as we consider them to be very relevant".

cineclubisme and cineclubista, as we consider them to be very relevant".