Black And White In Color

Since its inception, cinema has always had something mysterious, even immoral, about it, because it took place in closed and darkened tents. And God knows what went on there. Certainly, the Church tried to control cinema until the early 1970s. At that time, there was a call for control over what was shown, which would lead to the Film Censorship Board.

This episode is about the early days of Barco in Poperinge by Lucien Depuydt. We also go back to the US, where cinema became structured after Charles Chaplin and D.W. Griffith, among others, founded United Artists. The first important feature films, such as "Birth of a Nation" and "Ben Hur", a tale of the Christ.

This highlights the 1960s and 1970s, when cinema De Keizer in Lichtervelde - Belgium also felt the pressure of the emerging television, with, among other things, the affordability of TV sets and the film censorship board all too eager to make cuts in films. The Catholics wanted an even stricter policy and even started their own censorship board, Docip.

When all the neighborhood, city, and village cinemas closed their doors because people stayed home to watch television and no longer went to the theaters, a certain Albert Bert suddenly appeared on the scene and built the first cinema complex with five theaters under one roof in Kortrijk - Belgium. A turnaround that would have international consequences.

Where Barco was once the black beast of cinema with their black and white TV sets and later their color televisions, Cinema and Barco become partners. On the one hand, thanks to the innovative vision of "Star Wars" man George Lucas and James Cameron's film Avatar. The story ends on February 24, 2024, when Barco receives the Award in Hollywood for their laser projectors.