I'm sure you're feeling the same way: from morning to night, there's only one topic on the news: Corona! The crisis keeps us busy at work - if we are still allowed/able to do it - and while shopping, playing with the kids and in our own leisure time. Now just escape from these constant bad news - even if only for two hours. That would be nice. And where better to do that than at the cinema? Sure, we can watch movies within our own four walls, but there are just too many distractions. We're too close to reality, which is so difficult at the moment. But in the cinema it would be something else.
But at the moment it doesn't look like we'll be able to enjoy films on the big screen and in a very special cinema ambience again any time soon - apart from drive-in cinemas. On the political agenda entertainment like cinema is just at the bottom. The team of the Frankfurt Arthouse Cinemas - Cinema and Harmonie - around managing director Christopher Bausch does not want to accept this just like that. And so the Frankfurt Arthouse Cinemas were also involved when the AG Verleih, together with the HDF Kino, drew up a hygiene plan for the cinemas last week. This was sent to over 500 decision-makers in the federal and state governments with a demand for a roadmap for a timely reopening.
A joint communication was also developed to communicate this demand publicly. This looks as follows:
Reopening with hygiene rules is not only possible, but makes sense!
For cinemas in Germany, safety and health were and are the focus from the beginning. As a social place, we are fully aware of our responsibility. Even before the official closure, cinemas minimised the risks of infection at their own expense with distance regulations, increased hygiene measures and timed programmes.
Reopening with distance and a sense of proportion
To preserve basic cultural services and secure the economic prospects of cinemas, a roadmap is needed from the state and federal governments to reopen cinemas in a timely manner.
Like few other cultural venues, cinemas can easily implement minimum clearance compliance in this regard through targeted measures, such as selectively blocking bookable seats during seating selection, increased disinfection measures, and a focus on selling online tickets. A corresponding hygiene plan based on infectiological findings has been drawn up by the cinema associations and submitted to politicians.
"We are convinced that such a conditional operation will not only prevent a clear-cut in the cinema landscape, but will also maintain the acceptance of high infection protection requirements among the population in the long term," said the chairman of AG Kino - Gilde, Dr. Christian Bräuer.
Cinema is culture - culture is indispensable
Cinema is the easiest way to break out of everyday life for a few hours and dive into other worlds. Especially at Corona time, this is more important than ever to make the more difficult living conditions bearable. "At a time when we don't see friends, don't attend festivals, don't meet in beer gardens and don't go on holiday, the cinema can give us the opportunity, at least for two hours, to regain a bit of normality," Bräuer continued.
Art and culture rightly enjoy constitutional status in Germany. They are not only a fundamental right, but also a basic human need. Precisely because the rights of freedom are massively limited, politics must consider what valves it creates to permanently secure social peace in a difficult situation.
The film art cinemas have a particularly important role to play here. They are central cultural venues for their neighbourhoods and bring sophisticated European and international films to the people. Between epidemiological and purely economic considerations, cinemas have so far fallen through all the cracks. And they do so both in terms of financial aid and in terms of a prospect of reopening.
Avoid cultural clear-cut, secure jobs
Many cultural venues - and that includes cinemas - have seen their very existence threatened by the Corona crisis. A representative industry survey has found that 50% of all cinema businesses are at risk of insolvency if they close for another two months. That equates to around 600 businesses! If these places disappear from the map now, they will be irretrievably lost. There is a fear of cultural desolation in the countryside as well as in the cities. Unlike in many other countries, German cinemas are predominantly characterised by the middle classes. Many of them are family-run businesses where mini-jobbers and students earn their salaries - groups that were explicitly not included in the short-time allowance and therefore suffer particularly.
Cinemas are the engine of the German film industry. Not only are the livelihoods of numerous jobs in the cinema linked to them, but also those of suppliers, producers and filmmakers.
If half of the cinemas die as a result of the Corona crisis, the next step will be the death of the majority of the German film industry. Because, as can now be seen very drastically, the cinema still makes up an extremely important part of the revenues. Especially for the culturally sophisticated film, which does not follow algorithms or profit maximization, this could mean the permanent end as an art form. Thus, the film distributors united in the AG Verleih also support an early reopening of the cinemas: "Every film art cinema is important so that the films that have the courage to be critical and biting and culturally valuable pay off", says the chairman of the AG Verleih, Björn Hoffmann. Especially the films that will be in the spotlight tomorrow at the German Film Awards, such as "Systemsprenger", "Berlin-Alexanderplatz" or "Undine" only become visible through the cinema.
The distributors have also prepared for different scenarios for a reopening. Björn Hoffmann explains: "A large selection of attractive films, which could hardly be exploited due to the closure, is immediately available at special conditions.
In addition, we are able to deliver new, strong films even at very short notice and accompany them with the necessary marketing measures. The security concepts at hand are convincing and will certainly create confidence among the audience. Current surveys confirm the public's longing for the cinema experience, and we hope that the longing will soon be satisfied again."
In order to get the engine of the German film industry running again, start-up funding will also be needed to work with distributors to offer an attractive programme of current films, films that have already been released in cinemas and film classics.
"Here we trust very much in the creativity of the cinema operators. However, we call on all regional film funders to support this necessary show of strength by the cinemas," appeals Bräuer.
We therefore now specifically expect:
1. Immediate aid to preserve the cultural place cinema and to avert a cinema death!
2. A roadmap for reopening with the goal that cinemas can open their doors again in July at the latest!
3. A jump start for the cinema industry in the phase of reopening with limited capacity!
The cinemas in Germany will do their part to provide people as safely as possible with a cultural and social offer guaranteed by basic rights.
And this is what the protection and hygiene concept looks like: https://www.hdf-kino.de/wp-content/uploads/2020-04_Schutz-und-Hygieneplan-in-Kinobetrieben-zur-Wiederer%C3%B6ffnung_HDF-KINO_AG-KINO.pdf
