Events at the Rex and the Neue Filmbühne Bonn cinemas draw attention to their situation

Endenich · At the Rex cinema in Bonn, film fans could pick out old movie posters from the archive. The cinema in Endenich, as well as the Neue Filmbühne in Beuel, drew attention to its situation during the pandemic with campaigns.

 Brigitte Renemske gives away old film posters from the Rex cinema archive.

Brigitte Renemske gives away old film posters from the Rex cinema archive.

Foto: Stefan Knopp

Scenes from "Shadow of the Vampire," a wonderfully melancholy Dracula film from 2000. Next to them, posters for "Romeo and Juliet" from 1997, for example, or - surprisingly bloody for such a title - Doris Dörrie's "Glück" from 2012. On the floor, film advertising on adhesive foil that can be stuck in the shop window, from "Hitchcock," also from 2012. Such treasures could be picked up at the Rex cinema on Sunday afternoon: The cinema cleaned out its poster archive and invited visitors to rummage through them and take them home.

The background was the nationwide campaign "Kino leuchtet. Für dich," with which the houses want to draw attention to the fact that they are still there and are looking forward to things starting up again at some point. The Rex and the Neue Filmbühne in Beuel joined in and shone with many coloured lights from inside in the evening. In addition, the Endenicher Programmkino offered its posters, mostly from the 80s and 90s. The theater director Brigitte Renemske said that they wanted to see how this would be received, and then perhaps repeat the campaign with posters of more recent films.

Film posters to take home

"As nice as it is to have voucher copies for every film: but they are no longer performed," she said. So they figured they might as well make the audience happy with them. Some did come, maybe 15 people in total, but the beautiful Sunday weather also meant that people preferred to form long queues in front of the ice cream parlors rather than at the cinema entrance. And who has room for movie posters these days?

There would be a spot, said visitor Stefan Göritz. "They look good on white doors." He had heard about the campaign and wanted to take a look, but didn't take anything from the Rex. Goeritz said he is a fan of the Program cinemas, and he can't wait for it to start again. Maja Ilijanic also suffers from the fact that the cinemas are closed, especially Rex and Filmbühne, for which she also has a cinema pass. "I'm a big movie fan and usually watch 40 to 45 movies a year."

Revenue from the fall and winter is lacking

She doesn't think people's interest in going to the movies will wane. "After all, it's not just about watching movies, it's about the whole experience." That's very different, she says, from watching movies on streaming services while sitting on the couch at home. "I think a lot more people will go to the movies after Corona," she said.

Renemske has had frequent opportunities to chat with regulars to keep in touch. Cinema operators don't have it easy: The houses have been closed again since November, and various films have since been shown on streaming services. Renemske was confident, however, that some of them will be shown on the big screen again, since not so much new material was produced last year. In 2020, he said, they didn't take in much, since films could basically only be shown in September and October. "Fall and winter is, after all, the time when we take in money." She doesn't expect cinema openings to be considered at all until Easter, she said.

Original text: Stefan Knopp

Translation: Mareike Graepel

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