In a large parking lot in the middle of the Schleußig district of Leipzig, a black caddy with a white and bronze-colored logo on the doors: Electric Cinema is written on it, in a font reminiscent of 1950s film posters. And Martin Schröder-Zabel, who is driving the tour that evening, pulls a flag out of the interior of the car. The flag also carries the logos of the Electric Cinema and the Schaubühne and comes next to the car so that the organizers know. Malte Springer, the program manager of the Schaubühne cinema, explains that the Electric Cinema was launched in order to stay active. In Corona lockdown times, one question haunted him: “What can you do to get into urban space? ”
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And that’s when the idea came up with the Electric Cinema, we converted our e-car into a moving cinema and after dark we drive into the city and turn house walls, churches, gyms, whatever into large screens.
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On this evening it is initially a large house wall in Schleußig that Martin Schröder-Zabel will play on. There is a projector in the trunk of the electric car, so only the trunk lid needs to be opened. The projector is aimed at the house wall in such a way that as many people as possible have a good, undistorted and sharp image. There is also a player and a mixer so that, if in doubt, you can play with sound. At the moment, however, they mainly play silent films. The idea is simple: with the electric car, the cinema makers are self-sufficient. Because the car supplies the power for the projector at the same time. And so it goes to a different district every evening – and every driver can decide where the evening tour should go, says Malte Springer.
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The only thing we pretend to be a bit is that we try to visit old people’s and nursing homes on a regular basis.
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Malte Schröder-Zabel says that he has seen Dick quite often in the past few weeks, that is always the first wish that comes with silent films. The program goes far beyond Dick and Doof and Charlie Chaplin. The program makers at the Schaubühne also cooperate with local filmmakers – and with the short-addicted film festival, which offers something more experimental. “We are currently seeing various agricultural work from above, that is, aerial photos, probably made with a drone, and these are also very geometric images, where you can see the rows of plants, so to speak, of corn and grain fields and also the tractors, as they seem to be pulled by a string drive that long “, describes Malte Schröder-Zabel. It is quiet this evening. Now and then someone can be seen at the window. A few passers-by come by.
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So I personally like the fact that I am walking this path for what feels like a millionth time in the last few days and here for the first time on this path I encounter something that leaves me standing.
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A passer-by is amazed at the projection on the wall and has the association of a drive-in cinema. Schröder-Zabel: “Drive-in cinema, just the other way around. The cinema comes straight from the car onto the wall of the house and we thought that in the times when we cannot act as a theater or cinema, we would drive around with our electric car and try it out Projecting short films on the walls of houses so that at least a little culture can come to the people at home or in the respective district … ”
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A child says: “But there has never been a screen”, and a passerby replies: “That’s right, there has never been a screen, but a largely white house wall is enough.”
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And there are plenty of them in Leipzig. Malte Springer says there is a running list with great walls in almost all parts of Leipzig, but you can find many by chance. There is more than you think.
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The whole city is a cinema, if you want it to be a cinema.
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And the program makers of the Schaubühne Lindenfels, they want.
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Die Tour des Electric Cinema
The e-car is on the road every week from Thursday to Sunday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. You can find out where it stops on Facebook and Instagram.
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