16.08.2010
Piano + Metropolis
This thursday night at the Rotterdamse Open Air Cinema: the screening of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis with live music
18.06.2010
Cinematic Rotterdam
Floris Paalman, programmeur van de Rotterdam Classics, promoveert dinsdag 22 juni op ‘Cinematic Rotterdam, the times and tides of a modern city’. Read more »
16.05.2010
Film + architectuur in Den Bosch
On May 17 onward there will be several interesting screenings in the Verkadefabriek in Den Bosch concerning architecture. This monday it’s Many words for modern of Jord den Hollander, a film screened at the 2007 edition of our AFFR festival.
Read more »
09.05.2010
Shopping malls on film
The Barbican in London organises screenings of architecture films on a regular basis. Read more »
28.04.2010
Rotterdam premiere
Living Architectures of Beka & Lemoine has its Dutch premiere on Thursday April 29, the filmmakers will be present at the screening. Make your reservation now at the NAi.
08.03.2010
The opportunity to build
Screening of ‘an opportunity to build’ (1985) by Rob Klaasman and Maarten Kloos.
06.02.2010
The Complete Metropolis
Only 200 meters missing, as the newspaper announced. In 2008 the only (almost) complete reel of Fritz Langs’ Metropolis was found. Friday Febrary 12 live on Arte TV. Read more »
02.02.2010
Oscar nomination for Logorama
Yes, we recognize the beauties, because the short animation film Logorama we screened at our festival is nominated for an Academy Award! We keep our fingers crossed for the people of H5, especially Nicolas Schmerkin.
Cine drama
Exhibition about the past and the future of Cinerama
by Martijn Oskam
The art-house cinema Cinerama disappears from its current location. Lantaren / Venster is going to be relocated at the Kop van Zuid. It is going to be empty in the center of Rotterdam. The AFFR will be held in the cinema at the West Blaak for the last time, which is a good opportunity to pay attention to the building and the history and future of cinema. During the festival there is a digital exhibition and there are free ‘behind the screens’ tours.
Photo Frank Hanswijk
Cinerama has led a turbulent life. Predecessor Scala, opened his doors in 1957. After 7 months Scala closed again. The cinema reopened in 1960 under the name Cinerama. The first film that was shown was King of New York by Charlie Chaplin. The cinema consisted of 1 large room where films were screened with names like Circus World and The Greatest Story Ever Told with the Cinerama projection method. Using four projectors imagined the visitor in the show. But because the production was very expensive, there are only 8-Cinerama films. The projection method was therefore quickly replaced. After that the cinema was transformed several times. The large hall was divided into 2, then 5 and then 7 rooms. In the 21st century the location turns out to be too expensive to survive. Therefore Cinerama is exploring ways to continue. Including the relocation of Lantaren /Venster two cinema disappear from the center, like 80 other cinemas already experienced in de decennia before. The only thing remaining is the memory of their illustrious names: Arena, Lumière, Alhambra, Thalia, Corso and Calypso.
The site is redeveloped. The owner has agreed to a design contest. The designoffices GroupA, Groosman & Partners and Döll, Atelier voor Bouwkunst made a design for a tower with a programmatic mix of live, work, hotel and even 4 cinemas. The facade of Cinerama has declared monument, which therefore retained under the proposals. The foyer will be the reception and the tower will arise at the place of the former great hall. There is also the graduation proposal of Joost Kok, selected for the Archiprix, where a different approach is seen. On the courtyard he projected a giant mountain containing with movie heaters, a jazz club and parkingspaces. The emphasis is on establishing cultural programs. Although the graduation proposal will be realised, it gives a fair picture of alternative development perspectives. The attractive central location can be exploited for many purposes. Why choose again for another office and apartment building.
What does the departure of Cinerama and Lantaren /Venster mean? In any case that we have to cross over the river to go to the movies. Extending the center to the south side of the Maas is in itself not a bad thought. But why this is done, based on erosion of the center. Adding cultural institutions on the south quay seems a more logical approach to give the cultural life of Rotterdam a much stronger boost. A more successful example in this respect is the development of the Lloyd Pier, where the audiovisual sector has been strongly developed.
Does this mean that the city has developed downward? In any case, the disappearance of the cinemas from the center is not a good sign. Hopefully the city council will notice this and will develop additional policies for the cultural life instead of moving institutions that have already been proven successful
The exhibition is from Friday, October 30 until Sunday, November 1 on the 1st floor of Cinerama, West Blaak 18 in Rotterdam. Free admission.
Date: 28.10.2009
Tags: general
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19.06.2010
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29.10.2009
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23.10.2009
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