English

Kriterion Monrovia


In 2010 YUA was asked to help set up a Kriterion cinema in Monrovia, Liberia. A small group of enthusiastics got inspired by the Kriterion cinema business model and has even got a beautiful location in mind... The group is guided by Richard van Hoolwerff, who is also the country manager for SPARK  in Liberia. Previously Richard worked for the Kriterion foundation and was a founder of the Kriterion cafe/restaurant SKEK in Amsterdam. Other team members in Monrovia are Ben Morgan, Pandora Hodge and Philip Pleiwon.

In 2011 they implemented the first part of their market research to see how feasible a Kriterion cinema would be under a group of 254 students. Results showed that the students would really like to see more African (Nigerian) and Hollywood movies. Currently the main movie programming is Bollywood films, and that was not really satisfactory for the students. There was a lot of enthusiasm for the Kriterion concept, and students would love to work in such a cinema. YUA is sharing her expertise from setting up Kriterion Sarajevo and advises the group in Monrovia on how to set up a Kriterion cinema in their town.

So far, Kriterion Monrovia is still in a preliminary phase, and a lot of research still needs to be done. A starting capital for the cinema also needs to be found furthermore, but there is a start! Want to know more? richard@yuafoundation.org.

Kriterion Monrovia? Who knows!

Piet Meerburg
oprichter Kriterion Amsterdam

"We moesten het als studenten zelf doen, en dat hebben we gedaan. Ik vind het geweldig om te zien dat onze strijd van toen nu in Sarajevo navolging krijgt."

Bill Carter
auteur van het boek When Fools Rush In

"Art house Kriterion Sarajevo is a wonderful initiative that enriches one of the most inspiring cities of the world."

Nedzad Bekovic
filmmaker, o.a. Totally Personal

“Sarajevo heeft geen enkele plaats waar jongeren zich op hun eigen manier bezig kunnen houden met cultuur, ik hoop dat Sarajevo een plaats als Kriterion krijgt”