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Kino Lumbardhi (Lumbardhi Cinema) is a cultural landmark and a former cinema based in Prizren, Kosovo. Opened in 1952, it has been the main public cinema in Prizren after WWII. Consisting of an indoor space and an open-air cinema, it was a key site for film screenings, concerts and social gathering in Prizren. Notorious for being a home to DokuFest - international documentary film festival, Zambaku i Prizrenit and two civic struggles against its privatisation and demolition, it currently functions as an independent cultural centre run by Lumbardhi Foundation.

50’s - 90’s
Lumbardhi Cinema was established as Kino Bistrica in 1952 in Prizren, in the then Socialist Yugoslavia. Initiated as part of a modern cultural construction in a newly emerged country, it first operated as an indoor cinema with a capacity of 700 seats. In 1959, the outdoor cinema with a capacity of 1000 seats opened for the public. Until the transformations in technology with the arrival of television took place, Lumbardhi Cinema was the epicenter of cultural activities and social gatherings in Prizren with film screenings and music festivals such as Zambaku i Prizrenit and Kitariada. During the embargo and the political turmoil in ex-Yugoslavia in the 90s, Kino Bistrica functioned as a self-managed social enterprise, partially as a cinema, screening films illegally as well as expanding its repertoire, which had already begun to change with the erotic films, towards the screening of more explicitly pornographic films.

Early 2000’s - 2014
Following the war in 1999, and due to the financial and logistical difficulties, the unfunctional Kino Bistrica was turned into an asset to be liquidated by the privatisation agency. The name of the building was changed from Bistrica to Lumbardhi. Despite its pending institutional fate in the new post-war situation, the cinema revived its collective meaning as a site of memory, informal gatherings and festivals. The renowned documentary film and short film festival of the city, Dokufest, which opened its first edition in 2002 at Lumbardhi, was an important spark to bring both cultural as well as political attention to Kino Lumbardhi. Between 2012-2014 the space was used as an underground cafe, bar, small screening and concert venue, called SHKA - Shoqëria Kulturore Artistike (The cultural and artistic society).

In the last two decades, due to its monumental size and its persistence against the privatisations, the building became a site of controversy. After an initiative that saved it from demolition in 2007, there was another attempt to privatise it in 2014. The first demolition plan of then-mayor of the city was halted in 2007. The second attempt to demolish and privatise the building in 2014 was fiercely opposed by the campaign led by EC Ma Ndryshe, DokuFest and the Network of Cultural Organisations - RrOK, that managed to succeed in stopping the privatisation process. With the support of the Ministry of Culture and the Regional Center for Cultural Heritage, Lumbardhi was turned into a cultural heritage site. In 2014, the municipality declared Lumbardhi as a site of public interest, with an appeal to "activate the cinema, offer cultural activities, restore and revitalise buildings in that zone and to widen the road next to Lumbardhi".

2015 - today
Lumbardhi Foundation was established in April 2015 as a grass-roots organization, following the demands of the Initiative for the Protection of Lumbardhi Cinema. Founded by representatives of DokuFest, EC Ma Ndryshe and the Network of Cultural Organizations in Prizren, its mission was to transform the derelict Lumbardhi Cinema into a contemporary cultural institution through dynamic artistic programming, phased revitalisation of its space, building institutional capacities and sustaining stakeholder participation in defining its permanent status and long-term vision.

Housing film screenings, concerts and performances, exhibitions, lectures and different forms of community gathering, through Lumbardhi Foundation’s administration, the former cinema became a lively arts and community center in Prizren with over 700 public programs produced by the organization and more than 150 other guest users, while establishing itself as one the most frequented cultural heritage sites in Kosovo, with over 100,000 visitors.

The revival of Lumbardhi Cinema is an ongoing process, expected to be finalized with the completion of the restoration and adaptive reuse project scheduled for 2022.

Lumbardhi Foundation program
Lumbardhi is home to various long term and short term programs within a conceptual framework that feeds its institutional research-based orientation. Initiated by its internal team, oftentimes including external collaborations, Lumbardhi’s programs aim to expand Kino Lumbardhi’s initial function as a space for screening films into one that generates and preserves knowledge via archiving of its past as well as that of the city and the cinema culture of the country. Lumbardhi hosts guest art and cultural events and broadens the understanding of social interactions and engagement. This includes film and music programs, performances, local gastronomy related programs and events, talks, exhibitions as well as interdisciplinary programs related to research and learning.

In 2016, Lumbardhi Foundation was awarded the inaugural KCSF award for democracy.