The first known corona patient in Swabia appeared in a cinema, of all places, a good year ago in Neu-Ulm. A few weeks later, all cinemas had to close, now, in February 2021, they are in the second lockdown.
“Our health is fine. As far as the cinema is concerned, it is difficult,” says Claudia Mayr, owner of the cinema in Dillingen, which has been showing films since 1938. After all, her company would have received the down payment from the government, she says. Your most important demand on politicians: All cinemas in Germany should open on a uniform date.
Simultaneous opening is important
The cinema operator Rudolf Huber from Bad Wörishofen would also sign that. “We all have to open at the same time, there is no other way. The cinema has to start all over Germany,” says Huber in an interview with BR. A uniform theatrical release throughout Germany would be so important because only then would it be worthwhile for the major film distributors to publish their films. Georg Albrecht, who runs a small cinema in Offingen, also warns: “If I were allowed to open the cinemas in May or June and had to close again a few months later, that would not help.”
Cinema operators demand appropriate hygiene regulations
At the same time, the Swabian cinemas also demand fair treatment when it comes to hygiene measures. Cinema operator Roman Sailer from Neu-Ulm says that the hygiene concept must also be uniform and “be appropriate to the risk”. He demands “recognition that there are precautions in the cinema and that the risk is properly assessed and not that it has to do more in terms of infection protection than other areas such as public transport or gastronomy”.
Wolfgang Christ, who runs a cinema in Günzburg, hopes that the restrictions will be less severe than before the second lockdown. Only every second row is occupied, and in the end it is even compulsory to wear a mask on the square: “That way, cinema is not fun!” Says Christ.
The cinema is not dead
But in addition to a hygiene concept and a uniform opening, the cinemas need one thing above all: visitors. How big is the fear among the operators that people have become so used to Netflix and Co. that they no longer go to the cinema? Rudolf Huber says: “I am very optimistic! I have the feeling that people want to do something again!”
His colleague from the cinema in Dillingen, Claudia Mayr, agrees. “Cinema has been pronounced dead so many times. Cinema has always survived somehow. I firmly believe that it will continue to survive. Very important are the visitors who come to us.”
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