Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE BERLINALE
Every February, the
Berlinale
film festival (
W
berlinale.de)
dominates the city's cultural life.
Second only to Cannes among European film festivals, it offers a staggering number of movies
from around the world and is much more accessible to the public than the French festival. The
programme includes many premieres, usually shown in their original versions with German
(sometimes English) subtitles. Action is concentrated around the Potsdamer Platz multiplexes
(see below), though many screenings are repeated across the city. A limited number of season
tickets (around €150) go on sale a week before the opening. Otherwise, advance tickets can be
bought at the ticket booths in the Potsdamer Platz Arkaden shopping mall, the second floor of
the Europa Center (see p.110) or at the
International
cinema (see below). Tickets for the day of
the show must be purchased at the cinema box o
ce. During the festival, programming
information is available in the regular listings magazines or the festival's own daily magazine,
Berlinale
, available at all participating theatres.
15
Luxemburg-Platz.
Central Berlin's best rep cinema in a
landmark theatre. A mix of indie, trash and cult movies, as
well as concerts; films regularly have English subtitles.
Central
Rosenthalerstr. 39, Mitte
T
030 28 59 99 73,
W
kino-central.de; S-Hackescher Markt.
The main
programme is almost all German, but quirky midnight
events are often held and are often in English. Beside
Hackeschen Höfe.
Kinotag
Tues & Wed.
Cinestar Sony Center
Potsdamer Str. 4, Tiergarten
T
030 26 06 62 60,
W
cinestar.de; U- & S-Potsdamer
Platz.
Eight-screen cinema in the bowels of the
Sony Center, with almost every screening - mostly
Hollywood blockbusters - in the original (usually
English) language.
Hackesche Höfe
Rosenthalerstr. 40-41 (in Hackeschen
Höfe), Mitte
T
030 283 46 03,
W
hoefekino.de;
S-Hackescher Markt.
Five-screen multiplex, on the top
floor of the busy Hackeschen Höfe, showing upscale
independent foreign films and documentaries, some in
English. Often sold out at weekends, but they take phone
reservations.
Kinotag
Mon & Tues.
International
Karl-Marx-Allee 33, Mitte
T
030 24 75
60 11,
W
yorck.de;
U-Schillingstrasse.
Big, comfortable
GDR cinema showing new releases - of interest in part
because of its status as a landmark.
Kinotag
Mon, smaller
discounts Tues & Wed.
Odeon
Hauptstr. 116, Schöneberg
T
030 78 70 40 19,
W
yorck.de;
U-Innsbrucker Platz.
If you're after the more
intelligent English-language releases, the
Odeon
will often
have them first.
Kinotag
Mon, smaller discounts Tues & Wed.
Ì
Zeughaus-Kino
Unter den Linden 2, Mitte
T
030
20 30 44 21,
W
dhm.de/kino; S-Hackescher Markt.
Cinema in the Zeughaus, which often unearths fascinating
films from the pre- and postwar years.