Petition for preservation launched Drive-in cinema in Cologne-Porz threatened with closure
Cologne · The drive-in cinema in Cologne-Porz is threatened with closure. It is one of the last of its kind in the whole of Germany. Supporters are collecting thousands of signatures.
Somewhere up ahead, "2001 - A Space Odyssey" is playing. Hardly anyone in the huge car park in Porz in 1968 notices that this new film is a science fiction smash hit. Because at the end of the pansy 60s, drive-in cinema is above all the shelter of couples' romanticism. A long time ago. Back then, Porz was still an independent town. Porz has now been part of Cologne for almost 50 years, and the cinema is still there. There is room for up to 1,000 cars at a time. And in recent years it has even experienced a small boom, not least due to the time of the strictest Corona restrictions, when musicians or comedians were forced to use their headlights to get their applause.
The Cologne drive-in is one of a handful of stationary drive-in cinemas that have survived since their heyday in the 1960s. There are still some in Frankfurt, Munich, Essen and Zwickau, plus temporary facilities, mostly for summer cinema, like the one in Binz on the island of Rügen. In the Rhineland there have long been no more: a drive-in cinema in Pulheim near Cologne closed at the beginning of the 2000s. One in Ratingen, which belonged to the Minidomm amusement park that went bankrupt, closed ten years earlier.
It is possible that the cinema nostalgia in Porz will soon be over after a court confirmed the decision of the city of Cologne that the weekly and flea markets held there are prohibited because they do not have the appropriate building permit. However, the markets provide an essential financial contribution for the operator, the company DWJ from Starnberg. Without this additional income, continued operation would be unthinkable, they said. However, the company does not want to give up the location quite yet, probably also motivated by the protests of cinema lovers. DWJ is currently considering two options: either legal action against the decision, or a new event concept that brings in the necessary income and at the same time complies with the rules. The alternative would only be to terminate the lease, and then it would be over in Porz by the end of 2023 at the latest.
Niche business in the cinema industry
The remaining permanent drive-in cinemas in Germany attract around 300,000 visitors per year. Their share of the total cinema business is thus well below one per cent. A niche business, but with constant figures. And this despite a whole series of contrary developments: The car has largely become obsolete as a place of retreat for parental-eyed couples, and in general, for more and more people it is just a piece of technology and no longer a lovingly cared-for family member with which special experiences are associated.
In addition, there are much more mundane problems: Because the windscreens in today's cars are usually smaller and lower than in the past, visibility from the rear seats is hardly possible. Sound reception via FM radio sometimes requires complicated settings, and switching off the daytime running lights when the ignition is switched on, which is absolutely necessary, is often so difficult that the Porz drive-in cinema, for example, has compiled a ten-page online brochure with instructions for all current car models. Romantic cinema atmosphere has to be fought for.
Almost 12,000 signatures for preservation
Despite all this, there are obviously still a lot of fans. An online petition for the preservation of the Porz cinema was signed by almost 12,000 people within a week. Because "not all traditions should die", because it is "a cultural asset". Or also because "the weekly and flea markets are an important source of supply for people with low incomes". The indignation is great, also because many suspect that the city wants to "just make money" with the six-hectare site.
(Original text: Werner Grosch; Translation: Mareike Graepel)
