Film theater on Friedrichshain

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Filmtheater am Friedrichshain, overlooking the main entrance from the street Am Friedrichshain from

The Filmtheater am Friedrichshain (short: FaF ) is a cinema in the Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg in the Pankow district , which is located in the Bötzowviertel on the edge of the eponymous Volkspark Friedrichshain . The neoclassical building erected in 1924/1925 is a listed building and is still used as a cinema today.

Construction and use

The building was built as an Olympic film theater based on plans by the architect Otto Werner on the site of the Actien brewery in Friedrichshain. The property is located north of the confluence of Bötzowstraße and Am Friedrichshain street . Not far from the cinema was the Saalbau Friedrichshain built by Max Schilling from 1886–1888 , an entertainment building with space for 1,000 visitors.

In February 1925 the cinema opened with a showing of the recently released film Ash Wednesday a . a. opened with Adele Sandrock . The cinema held 1,200 visitors and had the orchestra pit typical of the silent film era . In the 1930s, UFA took over the cinema and renamed it Ufa-Theater-Friedrichshain . The large cinema was now used for propaganda films from the Nazi era , for example at the International Film Congress in 1935. The invitations of the 25 countries were made by the President of the Reich Association of German Film Theaters. V. Berlin, Fritz Bertram . The president of the Reichsfilmkammer Fritz Scheuermann was in charge .

General view on the street corner

The building was not significantly damaged in World War II . In the post-war period , when there were hardly any undamaged public buildings with large capacities available in East Berlin , the film theater also served as a meeting place and as a premiere cinema, among other things. a. for Ehe im Schatten (1947) and The Bridge (1949). In 1957, the now state- owned cinema was structurally changed by the VEB Berliner Filmtheater. By installing stairs in the stage area, the hall was shortened, so that ultimately there were only 250 seats. The building was used as a cinema during the entire existence of the GDR , in 1982 it was one of the alternative venues during construction work in the Deutsches Theater .

After the political change , the cinema stood empty for a few years and it was threatened with demolition. In 1995 the director Michael Verhoeven bought the building from the Treuhand and had it renovated and rebuilt together with Yorck Kino GmbH . The facade was restored to the original state of construction, but inside five smaller, individually designed playrooms were created from the formerly large hall.

literature

Web links

Commons : Filmtheater am Friedrichshain  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ash Wednesday in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  2. ↑ Yong Chan Choy: Productions of Völkisch Film Culture under National Socialism - “The International Film Congress 1935” (dissertation); 2006; Retrieved July 27, 2011
  3. ↑ International Film Congress Berlin 1935. Swiss Film = Film Suisse: official organ of Switzerland., Accessed on June 7, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Neue Zeit of July 8, 1982, p. 4

Coordinates: 52 ° 31 '44.6 "  N , 13 ° 25' 49.5"  E