On my hallway wall hangs a typecase, a former drawer for block letters from the cult serif Times New Roman font designed by Stanley Morison and Victor Lardent in 1931. Long estranged from its purpose, its aesthetics begin to have an effect right here on my wall, if you believe Adorno’s aesthetic theory.
It is mainly the little things that I collect that are charged with meaning: figures, teeth of (wild) animals, photos in miniature format and pieces of jewelry of the actual and special kind. The latter includes the “Series 1” sign from “Kurbel”. Anyone who is familiar with the cinematic world of Berlin before its mega-gentrification will like it this arthouse cinema at Meyerinckplatz in Charlottenburg say something else.
You can still find it on Google, but the restored house has been home to an Alnatura since the early 2010s. “Permanently closed,” is the reference in the large map service. Similar advice has recently been given to the “Cinema” on Bundesallee, which, at over 100 years, has lasted even longer than its Charlottenburg sister. Now the good news recently: The sale of the interior was canceled because… Cult cinema perhaps taken over becomes.
The pivotal point for the Munich cinema scene
I also wish such positive news for the Mathäser-Filmpalast in Munich, not a small arthouse cinema – rather one of the largest in the country and at 23 years old, not particularly old. With its 14 screens and almost 4,000 seats not far from the Stachus, it is an important hub for the Munich cinema scene, especially during film week.
The owner of the house, the real estate subsidiary of the Swiss group Zurich Insurance, plans to demolish the cinema. Instead, a district with offices, apartments and shops will be created. So far there is only a preliminary stage for building permits, so a smaller cinema is also conceivable. Nevertheless, according to a report, the concern is in the South German newspaper big: The management duo of the Munich Film Festival, consisting of Christoph Gröner and Julia Weigl, see the plans as proof that cinemas are being pushed out of the city center.
The “Cinestar” at Treptower Park in Berlin also recently closed its doors. You often only realize how much such places are missing in retrospect. So I still often think of the “Broadway Cinema” or the “Ufa Royal Palace” when I find myself on Kurfürstendamm. Or just to the “crank”, whenever I see their “row 1” sign on my wall, where the mere object has now become a small personal work of art.