Cinema Patria

In Deva, in the historical region of Transylvania, the Cinema Patria (“Country”) opened on Tuesday 6th March 1962 with the “artistic film” “Streets of Memories”. In common with cinemas in many Eastern European cities, the entrance was on the ground floor of an apartment block, with the auditorium jutting out at the rear.

Following the Romanian Revolution in December 1989, the Cinema Patria was the only cinema operating in the city, albeit with relatively few patrons.

Nevertheless, when the Cinema City multiplex opened in the Shopping City Mall in October 2015 (see separate Cinema Treasures entry) the Cinema Patria countered by installing Sony 4k 3D digital equipment (Cinema City was using 2k equipment) and a Dolby sound system. This arrived in time for the release, on 21st April 2017, of “The Fate of the Furious”, with Vin Diesel starring in the eighth in the popular ‘Fast and the Furious’ series. A new gas boiler was also installed.

Unfortunately, this investment did not pay off, as the Cinema Patria closed in November 2018, due to a failure of the projection lamp and also because the operator, Traian Ilincari, retired.

However, the investors who had re-opened the Cinema Flacăra in Hunedoara (see separate Cinema Treasures entry) reached an agreement with Romania Film to lease the Cinema Patria, and it re-opened on 14th February 2019. Patrons were assured that the cinema would be receiving a make-over, with the seats being replaced, a new 3D screen and the restrooms being modernised.

To what extent this took place is not known. It seems that the Cinema Patria was open as recently as December 2022 but, by the time I visited, in May 2023, it had closed.

The paved area in front, beneath the large canopy, has been taken over as an ‘overflow’ space by the neighbouring Al Forno Pizzeria.

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