After closing for nearly half a year, cinemas in Sanmenxia officially reopened to the public. The first film after the work resumption Sheep Without A Shepherd was screened in Sanmenxia Wanda Cinema at 13:30 on July 23rd.

At 13 o’clock on July 23rd, when the reporter walked into the Wanda Cinema, a display panel written “the cinema has gone through thorough disinfection and all the staff have passed the temperature test” came into sight. Meanwhile, the pandemic prevention and disinfection public list beside clearly recorded the disinfection conditions and staff’s temperature of different time periods. The audience had to wear a mask and passed the temperature test before entering the cinema. According to the ticket sellers of Sanmenxia Wanda Cinema, five films were screened including Sheep Without A Shepherd, The Pursuit of Happyness, A First Farewell, Coco and Big Fish&Begonia.

“The days without films lost so much color.” said Ms Liu who just finished watching the film with her child. They got the long-awaited happy experience back to the cinema.  

On July 16th, the China Film Administration issued a notification that cinemas in low-risk areas can reopen in order from July 20th on the premise of the implementation of prevention and control measures. On July 20th, Henan Film Administration issued the notification of reopening the cinemas in order under normalized COVID-19 prevention with detailed “epidemic prevention and control implementation rules of reopening cinemas in Henan Province.” “On receiving this notification, we reported to the municipal party committee and government, at the same time, contacted the epidemic prevention and control department to negotiate the orderly reopen of cinemas in Sanmenxia together. We put forward specific requirements for the film management departments of every county, city and district as well as all the cinemas.” said Zhang Shizhong, the responsible person of the Film Section of the Publicity Department of the Municipal Committee.

In the afternoon of July 22nd, the Film Section of the Publicity Department of the Municipal Committee, the Publicity Department of the Hubin District Committee and the Hubin District Integrated Law Enforcement Group on Cultural Market carried out the on-site inspection of four cinemas who applied first, including Wanda Cinema, Huanghe Cinema, Hexin Cinema and Dadi Cinema. These four cinemas can formulate practical contingency plans according to the stipulations and disinfect the viewing environment repeatedly. Through the inspection, these four cinemas met the open requirements and were allowed to apply for the key delivery message and reopen to the public.

“Since Wanda is a directly operated cinema, it has already obtained the key distributed by the cinema chain. It will be able to schedule films on July 23rd and become the first cinema in our city to resume work. The other three cinemas can resume business after getting the key in these two days. Next, the Film Section will continue to work with the epidemic prevention departments and the film management departments of all counties (cities, districts) to supervise and inspect all cinemas in Sanmenxia to ensure that all cinemas can operate in order under normalized epidemic prevention and control conditions, at the same time, all people can watch the film safely.” introduced Zhang Shizhong.