All film screenings in different Kyiv cinemas are now brought together on one website.
English Cinema Kyiv was launched in early September by Danish expat Klaus Jensen to give the local international community a time-saving tool to search for screenings.
Most of Ukraine’s movie theaters show dubbed versions of popular international films. Some, like Zhovten, may show the film in its original language the first week following the premiere, but it’s not consistent. Most cinema websites don’t offer an English interface.
Like many other English-speaking expats, film geek Jensen used to sift through various movie theater websites to be able to find what was available.
“I love going to the cinema. But I don’t understand enough Ukrainian or Russian to watch dubbed versions – and while most local cinemas show some movies in English now and then, finding them is difficult and takes time,” Jensen said in a press release.
He says that some foreign movie-goers he knows have even given up on Kyiv cinemas because of how tedious the search is “and now only watch stuff on Netflix or other streaming services.”
But now they have an alternative.
Jensen, a software developer, built the new website himself. “This is a work of pure passion – and a lot of fun to do,” he said.
The platform, which is also mobile-friendly, offers different and easy ways to look through movies and their showings. There is an option to see what is playing in cinemas now, as well as a seven-day schedule ahead. By clicking on a movie screening time, the user is taken directly to the cinema website where they can buy a ticket.
English Cinema Kyiv now displays screenings of six movies in 11 theaters including the long-awaited science fiction drama “Dune” and musical “Annette.”
The website stays up to date with new movie showings through web scraping and volunteers.
The initiative also offers an email update with a weekly schedule of movie showings that readers can subscribe to on the website. The team is planning to launch a Telegram channel in the future.
