A municipality with three cinemas

Cinema-goers spoilt for choice
The Municipality of Skanderborg has a total of three cinemas, testifying to the considerable efforts devoted by volunteers to leisure and cultural activities in the municipality. The three cinemas are Park Bio in Skanderborg, BIO Huset in Galten and Ry Biograf.

As many as 300 volunteers ensure that films are shown at the three cinemas virtually every day of the year. Films to suit every taste – and every age! From films with a narrow appeal to real box-office hits. There are world premiere films and Danish premiere films. There are father/mother-and-child events, a film club for children and a special programme for schoolchildren. In other words, there is plenty to choose from, and there is simply no excuse for not going to the cinema in the Municipality of Skanderborg.

Even though the three cinemas each have their own culture and special hallmarks, they were all set up by film-loving citizens.

Park Bio, part of the cultural centre Kulturhuset in Skanderborg, is the largest and the youngest of the three cinemas. It opened with the cultural centre in 1998.

The cinema, which has 144 seats and room for wheelchairs, is run by the local cinema society and approx. 130 volunteers.

Park Bio receives no public funding, but pays 20 per cent of its revenue to the cultural centre, which then covers the cinema’s running costs.

Park Bio is known for its many premiere films and for regularly organising evening events with film directors, authors and actors. The mother-and-child event held every fourth Monday morning is a tremendous success. Here, the foyer at the cultural centre is filled with prams and babies who are looked after by a group of volunteers. Park Bio also caters for slightly older children. “Biogryffen” is a film club, while films are also shown as part of a special initiative involving the teaching of films in schools.

BIO Huset in Galten is situated on the main square where the first cinema opened in the mid-1950s. Today, BIO Huset is owned and partly funded by the municipality. The cinema is run by a society and 70 volunteers. BIO Huset underwent extensive refurbishment and modernisation in 1996. The building is used as a venue for many different cultural activities, but first and foremost for the screening of films. Concerts, theatre performances, talks and exhibitions are also organised, while meeting facilities are available for rent by citizens and businesses.

However, the cinema with its 102 seats is the main attraction. In addition to showing films daily, BIO Huset stages a baby cinema event once a month, while two film clubs ensure that BIO Huset gets plenty of use.

With 93 seats, Ry Biograf is the smallest cinema in the Municipality of Skanderborg, and also the oldest. Ry Biograf was built as Ry Teater in 1917-18 based on drawings by the famous architect Hack Kampmann, who also designed the manor Rye Nørskov Gods. 

The construction of Ry Teater was initiated by the then owner of the manor, Nørgård. Nørgård obtained the licence which, then as now, was required to run a cinema, and the cinema opened in July 1918.

And the cinema survives to this day. In 2006 the cinema and its 85 volunteers celebrated the 20th anniversary of the cinema as an institution run by volunteers and partly funded by the municipality. Ry Biograf is not known for showing a lot of premiere films, but focus is on new films and primarily quality films, with two performances every evening and one in the summer. Ry Biograf is also used as a venue for special film events and talks.