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Founded in 1923, when films like Chaplins silent movies were on display, it cemented Ljubljana's reputation as an important European city. The first movie ever to be shown at 13 Kolodvorska (address of Kinodvor) was Young Medardus, based on a play by Arthur Schnitzler and directed by later very famous Casablanca director MichealCurtiz. Later the cinema became state-owned and showed under the name Sloga cinema until the beginning of the 90s mainly erotic and pornographic movies.

When the first multiplexes were erected in Slovenia, also city cinemas had trouble to survive, in Ljubljana alone, four cinemas had to close. With the help of the Municipality of Ljubljana, the Ministry of Culture and the Slovenian Cinematheque, Kinodvor was re-opened in 2003, and had a relaunch in 2008. Since then, it has successfully focused on contemporary art films. Other activities related to Kinodvor are for example Kinobalon (special programme for young audiences), Film Under The Stars on Ljubljana castle in summertime and various film festivals.

But Kinodvor is more than a cinema, you will recognize that when you open its door. All of a sudden you plunge in the universe which Kinodvor offers: the cinema café, the bookshop for film literature, the relaxed atmosphere of discussing about films while having a coffee, an experience you will miss in modern multiplexes.

If I had to pick one film of the current programme, it would be The Spirit of '45 by Ken Loach. The documentary shows the history of the reconstruction of Great Britain after WW2, when people's houses were destroyed and national health care programmes did not exist yet. The movie shows with mainly original footage and interviews with eyewitnesses, how this post-war spirit contributed to a more social and fair-minded Great Britain