Cinema has always fascinated me. Watching the first forbidden films with my mates, then the first shy kiss under cover of darkness and later the first self-earned money as a film projectionist.

In short, I enjoy going to the cinema, with the exception of a few years when film piracy was at its peak, I go to the cinema regularly and I am happy that the industry was able to overcome the crisis at that time to some extent.

In the spring of 2020, shortly after the international film scene had come to the Berlinale and the normal cineast was happy to have the Berlin screens back for himself, the crisis came. The end. Over. Film tear.

Corona spans the world with its ugly claws and streaming services record profits during the lockdown. After a short phase of reopenings in summer, all cinemas are now closed again.

Let us hope that most cinemas will survive this crisis or that we are just in the wrong film…