Ankara, Turkey—Feb 8, 2005
Incredible phenomenon - movie theaters are full every morning; Turkish teachers
shut down schools and send students to Cinema-Park to smell movies.
A revolutionary attraction has opened in Ankara, Turkey. Cinema-Park is a cinema
complex which has been upgraded to serve as an educational theme park. Groups of
students, families and employees of organizations and companies are invited to
go on a four-hour Theme Package Tour between the different movie theaters. At
Each theater they experience a different aspect of the day's theme using
different technologies.
The program currently running at Cinema-Park is called "Journey through the
Universe". It explores Planet Earth, the Solar System, the universe and space
research. At the 3D Theater, a stereoscopic movie depicts the creation of the
universe, its vast expanses and minuscule building-blocks. At the Motion
Theater, the visitors sit on what appear to be ordinary – albeit luxurious –
cinema seats. But these are actually Smart Seats, with dual motion capability, 3
built in ticklers, a bass shaker, a scent system, air and water effects and
personal speakers. The movie is a ride around our planet, with an emphasis on
conservation, which is perfectly synchronized with movements of the Smart Seats
and the special effects. The Music Theater introduces the audience to the
intergalactic language of music, and how it is implanted in movies about space.
The Music Theater is equipped with a state of the art sound system, but also
with an exciting disco-like lighting system. Other "stops" on the tour are the
Dark Theater, in which the emphasis is on imagination; the Interactive Theater,
in which all the visitors compete in a trivia game using unique personal remote
controls; and the Inspiration Theater.
Space is only one of a multitude of subjects addressed by Cinema-Park's Theme
Package Tours, from specific curriculum subjects to social, civil and ethical
subjects; tangible or theoretical; from inside the atom to the summit of the
Everest.
Ori Yardeni, the initiator and founder of CinemaPark Network, says, "I come from
a family of teachers. So I always knew, that good content alone, or good
teaching methods alone, wouldn’t work. The art is to combine them, and to do so
cost-effectively, too. That's the key to quality, profitable educational
experiences."
Yardeni considers the secret of CinemaPark's appeal to be a carefully
constructed balance between the educational elements and the fun elements.
"The Ankara CinemaPark is the first of five planned sites in Turkey. We have
plans for 8 more CinemaParks in Europe during 2005, reaching approximately 40
CinemaParks globally at 2008", says Ami Dror, Marketing Director of CinemaPark
Network.
