40 people locked in the cinema: the Winter Break audience was forgotten in the theater!

At the end of the film, the lights did not come back on… And for good reason: the cinema managers had left.

What would your reaction be if you were locked in a movie theater? A cinematic fantasy for some or a real nightmare for others, that’s what happened on January 28 in a cinema in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during a screening of Winter Break ofAlexander Paynenominated for an Oscar.

Without the desire to impose a escape game, the employees accidentally forgot about forty spectators. Thinking they had finished their day’s work, the venue team closed the doors, without knowing that they were leaving behind a closed-in audience.

One of the spectators described the event as “aabsurd and surreal“. A victim of the incident, Marcelo Alonsodid not hesitate to capture the scene to share it on his Instagram account.

“Locked in the Net Station cinema, in Botafogo! The staff turned off the lights and locked us in during the movie! Absurd ! After shouting and calling the firefighters (for 30 minutes), we were able to be evacuated from the cinema“, Alonso wrote in the caption.

The Brazilian newspaper O Globo provided more details about the incident. In Brazil, the film was retitled Os Rejeitadosmeaning The rejection. A retired teacher, Ruth Kaufmann, was among the sequestered spectators: “It was like we were orphans. What a tragedy, isn’t it? We were abandoned, desperate. After seeing the film, The Rejection, we rightly felt rejected.”

Ironically, the film nominated in five Oscar categories tackles a similar subject. Mr. Hunham (Paul Giamatti) is asked to stay on campus to monitor the handful of residents confined there. Soon there will be only one left: Angus, a 1st grade student who is as gifted as he is insubordinate. Too recently bereaved by the death of her son in Vietnam, Mary, the establishment’s cook, prefers to stay away from the celebrations. She completes this improbable trio.

Adriana Rattesfounding partner of Estação Group, apologized for the mistake and asked everyone who was locked out to contact the cinema group. Although she didn’t offer a refund after the experience, she did speak out: “In addition to the apology, we want to try to offer something that is a kindness to the public, after such a big inconvenience… We want to show that, yes, we are very concerned about what happened and upset“.

Meanwhile, the harrowing experience hasn’t dampened the film’s appeal. “It’s a wonderful film. Don’t miss it!“, advised Ruth Kaufmann right in the middle of his story.

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