Italy has begun installing a functioning cinema in every apartment building in the country, a program the Ministry of Culture calls «one screen per staircase, no citizen left in the dark.» Work crews in Rome, Naples and Turin started this week by converting ground-floor storage rooms into 40-seat theaters with projectors, red velvet curtains and a small concession stand.
The ministry has assigned an usher to each building to record attendance at every screening. Residents who miss three consecutive films must complete a make-up schedule of early-morning documentaries before they are allowed to return to normal viewing. «We are not asking people to like cinema,» a ministry official said. «We are asking them to attend it, which is different and legally simpler.»
Neighborhoods have reorganized around the new screens. Bakeries now open at four in the morning to feed the ushers, and building managers have replaced mail slots with ticket windows. In Bologna, an entire condominium voted to show only silent films so the usher could hear anyone sneaking out.
The program is expected to reach every registered residence by the end of next year, at which point the ministry will begin counting seats per citizen and publishing the results by street.