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fterwards came the task of sustaining the programming, paying the staff and keeping the finances from endangering the project. For years, rent was its biggest expense. In 2022, Palma City Council approved the free use of the s'Escorxador premises until the end of 2032, easing one of the main difficulties in keeping the activity going.

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Eugenia first came as a spectator while studying film at the CEF, the School of Audiovisual Arts in Palma. She remembers her first visit, for a Terrence Malick retrospective: the camera movements and the way of telling a story were unlike anything she had seen before. She kept coming. Years later she joined the association's board, and when the position of deputy director and programmer became vacant, she applied through the selection process. She has been working here for two years.

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For Eugenia, the size of the theater also affects how a film is enjoyed. CineCiutat has four screens of different sizes: Screen One, one of the largest, is equipped with 4K projection, while Screen Three is small and cozy. It is the one she tends to choose for the most intimate stories, whenever she can watch them there. "I don't need a giant screen," she says.

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In her day-to-day work, programming is the part she feels is most her own. "I've never loved Mondays so much," she says. That morning she reviews the weekend's box office, along with that of other cinemas, and adjusts a calendar in which many releases have been marked for months. She organizes screenings from Friday to the following Thursday: which films continue, which come in and how to divide the showtimes. On paper, four screens seem like enough. When several interesting titles coincide, choosing one can mean leaving another out. For her, even programming a blockbuster carries risks. It can bring in viewers, but every screening it occupies leaves less room for the independent, European or women-directed cinema that defines much of the lineup. Some members have questioned these choices: they come precisely looking for other kinds of films. Eugenia and Javier have to think both about the audience a big release can bring and about the one that trusts it will find a programming of its own here. "I think there are people who trust our programming," she says. When choosing, she is interested in offering films from different backgrounds and sensibilities, capable of showing other ways of telling stories. That is what she means when she talks about "educating the gaze."

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This search leaves room for revisiting films from other decades. Absolute Cinema brings back titles such as "Taxi Driver" or "Akira," in original version with subtitles and 4K projection. For new releases that can't find a place in the regular schedule, Descobrint Cinema d'Estrena offers special screenings. The limit of four screens also forces the team to imagine other ways of giving a film a chance.

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Sometimes the programming extends to what happens after the screening. Eugenia highlights "Suportant el paradís" by Marga Melià, which gathers conversations with Mallorcan artists about the island and the weight of tourism. During September, Tuesday screenings have been followed by discussions on culture, housing and sustainability. Audiences can set what they have just seen against issues that affect them outside the cinema.