The over hundred-year-old Apolló was the first cinema in Pécs and the only art cinema in the region. Its unique selection of films shares its space with free conversations, acting as a meeting place of societies and cultures. The programme is a result of a careful selection process, in which decisions are hardly ever based on marketing factors.

Apolló takes moral responsibility for helping us imagine the best possible world through the films it screens. “Our curatorship follows the principles of European arthouse traditions, and it is open toward quality mainstream works. The films shown by us have proven their worth at European festivals, they are the work of prominent directors, or they are significant pieces of Hungarian creators. We especially promote films addressing issues of living as a minority or being different. Our selection is made complete by films from the farthest corners of the world.”

Apolló was opened in 1912 as the first permanent cinema of Pécs and the first talking film theatre in the country outside the capital city. Its building was designed by Emil Károlyi. Its big hall used to be and partly is still decorated by frescos of historic ethnicities painted by Ernő Gebauer. After a few-year-long hiatus, the cinema was reopened in the renovated Apolló House in 2004, and as operated for ten years until 2014 by the Budapest based Cirko Film – Másképp Foundation. Pécs based Apolló Cinema Foundation, the current operator of the cinema, was established in August 2014 as a civil initiative, in the form of a public non-profit organization.

The 100 and 40 comfortable armchairs of its two halls can be booked in advance online. A member of Europa Cinemas Network, Apolló welcomes its guests in the historic centre of Pécs.