Award for cinemas in Schleswig-Holstein

For the first time, three main prizes were awarded: for the best "cinema in a rural area", for the best "cinema as a cultural venue" and for outstanding programme work. At the award ceremony at the Capitol Lichtspiele in Kappeln today (5 June), State Secretary for Culture Dr Oliver Grundei said: "With this award, we want to recognise and support the efforts of cinema operators for film culture and the cinema. And we want to encourage them to maintain the cinema as a cultural venue even in times of declining visitor numbers." The cinema still has an important function as a place for shared cultural experiences.

The main prizes are endowed with 5,000 euros each. The winners in the respective categories are the Burgtheater cinema in Ratzeburg (rural area), the Savoy cinema in Bordesholm (cinema as a cultural venue) and the Studio Filmtheater am Dreiecksplatz in Kiel for their outstanding programme work in the past year. In addition, eight cinemas were honoured for their "consistently good cinema work with outstanding aspects" (2,000 euros each) and a further eleven cinemas for "consistently good cinema work" (1,000 euros each).

State Secretary Grundei thanked the jury for their selection decisions. The jury consisted of Astrid Muckli, Muckli-Kino Betriebsgesellschaft (Aschendorf, East Frisia),Bernd-Günther Nahm, lecturer at the Kiel University of Applied Sciences, and Stefanie Polek, lecturer in film at the Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design Kiel. Other members included one representative each from Filmwerkstatt Kiel and the Ministry of Culture.