Hamburg has many arthouse cinemas. Felix Graßmann runs the Abaton, which was founded by his father more than fifty years ago and is now having an amazingly good summer. A conversation about what it brings to a cinema to offer streaming. And why cinema makes people particularly happy now.
Mr. Graßmann, how is the cinema summer going?
Felix Graßmann: We were very lucky, if you can even speak of luck, that the lockdown took place practically at the best movie time, namely last winter and spring. All the good films that should have come out there were pushed into the summer, so that there was practically no summer slump in the range of films. Normally, these extremely good and high-quality films would have filled our coffers in winter. Because they are coming this summer – films like “Nomadland”, “Der Rausch” or “Minari” – things are actually going very well.
And what about the hygiene measures?
Although we have pretty strict requirements in Hamburg, we can still use fifty percent of the spaces, so we’re already moving towards the black. We’re still making losses, but that’s not as dramatic as it was last summer. You can drink and eat at the seat, but take off your mask, but otherwise you have to wear the mask in the hall. We basically have four security levels: On the one hand, only those who have been tested, vaccinated or recovered are allowed to go to the cinema. The visitors have to keep their distance. And just wear a mask. And then we have to run the ventilation system at the highest level so that we can guarantee that the air is completely replaced ten times an hour – i.e. every six minutes.
Do you feel a sigh of relief from the guests because the cinemas are open again?
It is touching how moved people are to finally be able to go back to their cinema. And that for them this is a place that they have missed. We have a large regular audience, a very loyal one. This is our great luck.
What drives people back to the cinemas? When you’ve got so used to the couch?
Watching films in the cinema is something else. You really see what’s going on on the screen. This is not the case at home. Also because everyone has more and more of the digital devices around them. You watch a series on the television, at the same time the phone rings and you surf the Internet at the same time. This of course has an impact on the movie experience.
“Our regular audience knows that they can rely on our selection of films.” Felix Graßmann heads the Abaton, which specializes in political cinema and German auteur cinema.
(Photo: Abaton)
They now also offer streaming.
Yes, that’s right. But it will never have any economic significance for us. The margins are far too low for that. It’s just one way we want people to be when they’re at home and don’t want to dig through the 25,000 films on Netflix or Amazon. And that’s why we have such a large regular audience. They know that they can rely on our selection of films. That’s what they appreciate. And we moved that to the Internet so that we could also be there to support people with the films being streamed.
Is Hamburg particularly open to art house cinemas?
The program cinema landscape in Hamburg is actually pretty good, but the density could also be increased. There are certain gaps towards Hafencity. But that is still not a real residential area. In the direction of Harburg one could certainly open one or the other cinema again. But the existing cinemas have had an interesting program profile for years. Everyone has their own niche, which depends on the regular audience and the neighborhood in which it is located.
And which one does the Abaton have, located between the rich Rotherbaum and the university grounds?
Our focus is political cinema and German auteur cinema. That has always been our focus and it stays that way. We look at the independent cinema to see what kind of interesting new films are out there.
What do you wish for the next few months?
I hope that the numbers in the intensive care units are in the moderate range, that there are only a few severe courses and that the situation will return to normal at some point. That will probably not be the case until next year. But maybe things will turn out differently. I honestly don’t know at all.
Information:
Hamburg arthouse cinemas: Abaton, Allende-Platz 3 (corner of Grindelhof), Rotherbaum, abaton.de; 3001 cinema, Schanzenstrasse 75, Sternschanze, 3001-kino.de; B-movie, Brigittenstrasse 5, St. Pauli, b-movie.de; Magazine art theater, Fiefstücke 8a, Winterhude, magazinfilmkunst.de; Metropolis cinema, Kleine Theaterstrasse 10, Neustadt, metropoliskino.de; Zeise cinemas, Friedensallee 7-9, Ottensen, zeise.de