Starter Kit. Idea 88 of 500. Cluster 4
Outdoor cinema evenings
The mechanism, from the book
An app that tells people what is happening tonight converts a day visit into a 2-night stay.
The first step
Borrow a projector and a screen and ask a guesthouse garden or a beach bar to host one film night. Choose a film shot on or about the island, charge an entry fee that includes a drink, and count attendance. Guests staying for a second screening, or asking about the next one, are the proof.
- Who pays first
- Beach and hill-town guesthouses that need evening entertainment, and their guests with nothing to do after dinner.
- What leaves today
- Evenings in tourist towns are often empty; a film night fills one and gives a visitor a reason to stay another night.
Ask first
- the local council (Municipal Council, Urban Council or Pradeshiya Sabha). Ask what approval outdoor screenings with sound at night need.
- Department of Cultural Affairs. Ask whether they can help with showing Sri Lankan films to visitors.
Check before you spend
That you hold screening rights for every film shown, that sound at night is allowed there, and that the site is safe for a crowd.
Find out these three numbers
- What will visitors pay for an evening film under the stars?
- What do a screen, projector and sound cost?
- Which films can you license for public screening?
A comparison from the book
Sigiriya. Chapter Five
"cheapest way to turn a day visit into a 2-night stay."
An evening film gives the day visitor a reason to stay over.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.