Pandemic cinema

The special thing about "Eine Stadt sieht einen Film", apart from the film selection, is actually always the many events surrounding it - above all the discussions with the cast and crew after the screenings and the location tour to the original locations of the respective film. Impossible during Corona, of course, but they knew how to help themselves: The majority of the events were pre-produced and will also be available to stream on the 27th and 28th. From exciting conversations with actress Eva Mattes and Director Roland Klick to a location tour with leading actor Charly Wierzejewski, viewers can look forward to a packed online package including the film quiz, which is already available now, and an online photo exhibition atfilmtourism.com look forward to.

"All pre-produced clips were of course shot in compliance with the coronavirus regulations. At the beginning of the year, I had to find out everything I needed to know and I am now very happy that such beautiful video documents have been created for this film," says Manja Malz. And you can tell in a positive sense that the event was not created by an agency, but from the cinemas in Hamburg. The location tour is being organised by employees of the B-Movies and Alabama cinemas, who are huge fans of Klick's films themselves. Matthias Elwardt and "1 Stadt sieht 1 Film" presenter Lili Hartwig conducted the interviews with the cast and crew themselves. The passion for the event and cinema culture in general shines through everywhere.

A great deal of passion has also been evident in Schleswig-Holstein in recent months. The Schleswig-Holstein Cinema Association was founded there in June 2020 despite - or rather because of - the current situation. An association of over 50 cinema locations from Schleswig-Holstein, which is unique in this form in Germany. "A crisis also creates opportunities. The cinema association brings the cinemas even closer together and makes them even more visible to the public and politicians. The association acts as a general point of contact, which is a great advantage in a large state like Schleswig-Holstein," says Dennis T. Jahnke, who is a member of the board of the new association and runs the Studio Filmtheater on Dreiecksplatz in Kiel together with Matthias Ehr. The cinema association's first joint event was not long in coming: the cinema action day in October received widespread media coverage and was very successful with numerous sold-out special screenings and events.

However, all the positive news cannot, of course, hide the fact that there was a sharp drop in sales last year and this year too. A forecast commissioned by the cinema association predicts a drop in sales of around 50 per cent for the current year in Schleswig-Holstein. "And that's still a positive scenario for an opening in April. If we look at the course of the last few days and weeks, it could be closer to a 70 per cent drop," says Jahnke. 2021 will therefore not be an easy year for cinemas either. Nevertheless, there is a lot going on at the Studio Filmtheater at the moment: cinema auditorium 3 has been completely renovated, including a new sound system. And the foyer is currently being repainted - without having to pay attention to public traffic. This has been made possible by the Future Cinema Programme from the federal government and the German Federal Film Board. "We receive up to 80 per cent funding for renovation work - that's an incredibly good signal from politicians. It would be disastrous if everything were to come to a standstill now. Without new technology - we are also currently redesigning our website and digital ticket sales - the cinemas might be hit in two to three years. So we're getting ready for the future," says Jahnke.

Even if an opening date is not yet in sight, the cinema operators are already looking forward to being able to show great films on the big screen again soon: "My highlights for the next few months are Oscar contender 'Nomadland' by Chloé Zhao and 'The Rush' by Thomas Vinterberg, which should actually have its world premiere in Cannes in 2020," says Matthias Elwardt. Jahnke, on the other hand, is particularly looking forward to the new James Bond and the indie films "The Father" and "Ammonite". And everyone agrees on one thing: streaming platforms will never be able to replace the cinema experience.

We share this opinion - and are keeping our fingers crossed that the cinemas will reopen soon.