Agri Province Welcomes Its First Movie Theater

Agri residents welcomed the very first movie theater established in their province. In Doğubeyazıt, a neighbor district, a film screening venue was built back in 1975, which was closed down due financial issues. The Dogubeyazit venue was re-established in 2007.

Located in shopping mall, Agri's new movie theater made its first screening with Ozcan Deniz's "You are my home", attended by a massive crowd of spectators.

According to the Turkish Statistics Institute, six other provinces--Gümüşhane, Bayburt, Iğdır, Tunceli, Kilis and Şırnak--has yet to house a public movie theatre.

"17 provinces only house one movie theatre, whereas 46 percent of all movie theaters in Turkey are concentrated in İzmir, Ankara, İstanbul and Bursa," the institution said. "Yet, most people in Turkey rate their favorite cultural activity as watching movies."

Another survey said the total box-office revenue in Turkey exceeded 221 million liras (roughly 100 million Euros) in 2012, where national productions share almost half of the revenue with 110 million liras (50 million euros). (NV)