CinEx Lombardia DB: Cinema Exhibition Network in Lombardy (1939-1969)

Description

The CinEx archive collects information and materials, produces statistical estimates and visualisations aimed at reading the phenomenon of Italian cinema venues in relation to the media system, the territories, the productive fabric, and the social, cultural, and political context in which they are embedded. CinEx promotes an open and in-progress research model, with an expandable data collection system and an archiving logic in dialogue with other datasets. CinEx is organised into sections that reflect the complexity of cinema exhibition. The Venues section collects and presents data on cinemas from a geographical perspective (location of the venue, type of structure), a historical-evolutionary perspective (year of opening and closing; lifespan and transformations), an institutional perspective (character and category of the venue, screening order, type of screenings), and an economic perspective (ticket price, annual admissions and box office revenue, number of employees). The Screens section investigates architectural characteristics (number of seats, presence of a balcony) and technological characteristics (projectors and audio systems). The People and Companies sections host personal and professional data on owners, managers, legal representatives, architects, and builders of venues and the enterprises to which they belong. The Relations section surfaces the network of relationships among the various actors according to a rhizomatic logic. CinEx is designed to make data available according to FAIR principles (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reuse). Data are searchable through a system of filters and categories; accessible via a credentialing system; interoperable thanks to unique identifiers and meta-categories that serve as bridges for comparative research; and reusable and expandable in accordance with the logic of a research endeavour always in progress and always open to new uses. CinEx is conceived so as to enter into dialogue with other datasets, including the HoMER network — History of Moviegoing, Exhibition, and Reception — the Archivio Centrale dello Stato, the Romarcord project, and various partners from the Italian film industry.

Steps to reproduce

The materials used as sources are heterogeneous. The archive draws on institutional sources, such as the Archivio Centrale dello Stato (and in particular the CS fund — cinema venues), provincial state archives, the records of Prefecture offices and their respective official periodicals, the historical archives of the Chambers of Commerce, and historical statistical series compiled by SIAE and ISTAT. It also makes use of associative sources, including the archives of AGIS — Associazione Generale Italiana dello Spettacolo — and ACEC — Associazione Cattolica Esercenti Cinema — along with their periodicals, such as the Giornale dello spettacolo; general-interest publications, such as national and local newspapers; publications of other kinds, such as architecture journals; and finally written and oral memoirs, along with memorabilia (postcards, posters). This list remains open and ever-expandable. CinEx integrates data, enhancing their value and rendering them coherent and comparable according to a source hierarchy that privileges institutional sources, followed by associative sources, general publications, and materials from social history — in a meticulous process of cross-referencing aimed at a degree of accuracy that is always open to further refinement. In this spirit, data sources are indicated wherever possible.

Institutions

• Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

  Lombardy, Milan

Categories

Funders

• Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca

  Grant ID: 2020SNZMXY

Additional Metadata for UCSC Datasets

Related Links

Licence