Kinodvor city cinema once again recorded a record number of filmgoers in 2012. Compared with 2011, the number of visitors to its films grew by over a quarter.

Up to 31 December 2012, the 2,240 public screenings at Kinodvor were seen by 121,054 people.

Last year’s Film under the Stars, the annual film festival at Ljubljana Castle, was a record-breaker in numbers attending: the 24 consecutive screenings – not a single one was cancelled – were seen by 16,417 film lovers. Last year was also the first for the so-called Drive-in Cinema at Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre, where four screenings attracted 140 cars. The Small Hall (21 seats) counted 5,739 visitors to 459 screenings.

Compared to 2011, the number of those at Kinobalon, Kinodvor’s programme for children and youth, rose by more than 35%. In 2012, Kinobalon screenings attracted 27,666 people to 473 screenings, of which 12,699 cinema-goers went to 319 regular screenings and another 14,967 viewers attended 154 school screenings.

In terms of numbers watching, what did Kinodvor’s audience enjoy most last year? Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson), the curtain-raiser at Cannes last year, enthused them most. This was followed by A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg), while third place was taken by British film Shame (Steve McQueen).

In the league table of the five most-watched films at Kinodvor since October 2008, in first place remains The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick) with 7,989 viewers, while second and third place were grabbed by films released last year - Moonrise Kingdom and A Dangerous Method.

Last year, Kinodvor also hosted two leading film festivals: LIFFe, produced at Cankarjev dom, and Animateka, in coproduction with the Association for the Reanimation of Storytelling 2 Reels. After a slight fall in viewer numbers at LIFFe screenings at Kinodvor in 2011, they were on the rise again last year - 63 screenings at Kinodvor counted audiences totalling 7,471, while the 9th Animateka drew 3,443 animated film lovers to 45 Kinodvor screenings.

Thus, in its four years of operations under the City of Ljubljana’s wing, Kinodvor has more than doubled its anticipated annual visitor numbers. Last year saw the introduction of new early-afternoon and late-evening screenings which proved to be a success and the numbers of visitors to these also rose. Due to great interest in season tickets for the late season, in the 2012/13 season an additional option at 3pm has been added to the pre-existing one at 10am for the Film Meetings over Coffee.

At Kinodvor, 2013 will be extra special, as in October 2013 we are to celebrate the 90th anniversary of cinema at the current Kolodvorska 13 and the 5th birthday of Kinodvor operating under the wing of the City of Ljubljana.