When the days become shorter in autumn and the rain drives away the last rays of sunshine, it’s time for a trip to Middle-earth. In a cave in the earth there lived a hobbit. Each of the cinema guests knows the stories about Bilbo Baggins, which JRR Tolkien originally wrote for his own children in the 1930s. Without a doubt, the stories are exciting, thrilling, emotional – but to spend ten hours in the cinema seat?
No problem for Tim Werner and Lena Fuldner from Osthofen. “As big Tolkien fans, we saw “Lord of the Rings” in a marathon in January, read the books and have the films on DVD and Amazon Prime at home, but the cinema experience is of course something completely different,” emphasized Werner. Nikolai von Zelewski from Bockenheim was voluntarily “dragged along” to the film experience by Alexander Heil from Kleinkarlbach. “I’m a veteran when it comes to long movie nights and that’s why I came in my sweatpants, Nikolai in his jeans will notice the pressure points later,” he says with a laugh. An 18-year-old from Carlsberg is a repeat offender and is already wearing loose trousers as a precaution. “I focused on convenience,” he admits. His girlfriend from Grünstadt says: “Even though we know the story and know what comes next, the tension and emotion remain – we bet who will cry and how often.”
A passion for film in the cradle
Jean-Luc Busch and Lisa Graf from Worms have a lot of luggage with them. “An evening like this wouldn’t work without my cozy blanket – I’m always cold,” says Graf with a smile. People usually don’t admit it, but they also take off their shoes and put on the cozy socks they brought with them – so you can easily endure it. Busch was probably born with a passion for films. “My parents were big Star Trek fans, which is probably where my first name comes from, namely Jean-Luc Picard, who was one of the most outstanding captains in Starfleet,” he says with a laugh. Both are wearing comfortable clothing, so they are well prepared for the ten-hour marathon.
The group that has probably traveled the furthest also stands out visually among the numerous cinemagoers – initially because of their clothing, but upon second look you can hardly believe your own eyes, as three members of the group have extraordinary ears that actually look like hobbit ears. Are they real? “We cosplay, which means we dress up as fictional characters and go to different events,” explains 24-year-old Janine Wildgrube from Trier. Make-up, wigs and complete styling are also included. “We do this with as little resources as possible, we are practically a complete film crew in our own living room,” she describes. The cosplay group also includes Viktoria Peter from Stuttgart, Judith Pohl from Freinsheim and Nicole Engel from Stetten im Zellertal. Viktor Wick undoubtedly had to travel the furthest. “I took the train from Rostock to Grünstadt in thirteen and a half hours so that I could be there today,” he says, grinning up to his hobbit ears. There is a discreet tattoo of a hobbit sword on his arm. “We meet several times a year for extraordinary events,” he says. The special flair of the films is indescribable on the big screen and the sound quality cannot be compared with the home cinema. – And then it’s already 4 p.m. and the journey to Middle-earth can begin.
Deadline
The Filmwelt Grünstadt will also be showing the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the extended version in one piece on Saturday, November 23rd. It starts at 2:30 p.m. Duration: approximately twelve hours. Further information and tickets are available online at www.filmwelt-gruenstadt.de.