The president of the City Hall of Viana do Castelo, Luís Nobre, announced that the municipality will oppose any permanent closure of commercial cinema screens in the city. The position was taken during a council meeting, in response to questions raised by the PSD councilwoman, Joana Ranhada, about the future of the existing screens in the Estação Viana shopping centre.
Luís Nobre revealed that the City Hall has maintained contacts with the shopping centre's management and with the exhibitor Cineplace, monitoring the national strategy for reopening cinema screens. "We are working on reopening commercial cinema in our counterpart," stated the mayor, guaranteeing that he will contest any closure decision.
The president recalled that the existence of cinema screens was one of the conditions imposed by the municipality in the licensing of the construction of Estação Viana, in the city centre. "One of the prerequisites that the municipality imposed in the licensing of the construction of Estação Viana was to have this offering, regardless of it being private, and now to be abandoned," he argued.
The closure of the screens in January left Viana do Castelo without commercial cinema, a situation that gains particular visibility with the holding, in November, of the preview of "Viana, the Legend of the Golden Hearts," a Portuguese 3D animated production inspired by the legends of the city.
