This talking point is nothing new – people don’t go to the cinema anymore. People don’t watch movies anymore, at least not like they used to, don’t care about films like they used to. Everything’s streaming – just subscribe! The conversation doesn’t feel untrue, exactly. Part of the medium has died, in a way, and with it (allegedly), so has going to the movies. And yet, I know more people in Berlin that signed themselves up for the Yorck Kino Unlimited passes at the start of 2025 than ever before.
Yorck are a great example of a middle ground: they own some of the city’s most beautiful cinemas, and curate a programme of both heavy-hitting crowdpleasers and indie arthouse fare, with special series like Creepy Crypt and programming tailored to each of their unique Kinos.
The fact that so many people are still – or newly – visiting these Kinos, making a concerted effort to see movies on the regular, should be a sign to critics and terminally online film nerds promulgating their moviegoing apathy. Cinema is still full of potential for public dialogue; moments like Barbenheimer 2023 showed a momentum and excitement for film rejoining the popular sphere.
And if you look even deeper, there are promising pockets of the avant-garde, niche and underground in various cities around the world – people making work on the fringes, for the weirdo festivals, cross-pollinating with other art forms.
Cinema is still full of potential for public dialogue.
Despite this, it would be romantic and unrealistic of me to proclaim that moviegoing is alive and kicking and all of it good, because cinema isn’t as important a factor of mainstream culture as it once was, and that is just a fact. The silver screen – the communal viewing experience, the immersion of taking part in something bigger together – was a ritual once lived by all, but streaming (or physical home media, like the resurgence of DVD) has overtaken our screen-watching hours. I have noticed shifts in even the traditional methods of practice, too.
Mubi, the streaming-cum-distribution-cum-production and editorial giant, has shifted its distribution methods, and hosts far fewer in-person press screenings than it did last year. Even for the prestige pictures, a lot of the time, the film will have its cinema run in tandem with an online premiere on their streaming service. Recently, although I was drawn to a darkened room to watch Conclave, I had friends watching the film on planes, even as it was still in theatres. It’s a new way of thinking about audiences and their needs.
Photo: IMAGO / POP-EYE
To be clear, I am one for streaming, in some circumstances. A trip out to the cinema has to offer the right kind of film for me to invest the time, energy, travel, et cetera. Sometimes the movie I’m digging into warrants fixing a drink in my kitchen, heading on over to the wall-mounted TV in my bedroom and hitting my vape.
Sometimes it’s a huge benefit to have at my fingertips a great restoration work from the 1960s that I can’t see in a theatre anymore, or I’m semi-curious to hear everyone’s mediocre takes on a buzzy flick but am not willing to give up my precious time off from work to get the train into town to see it. (Disclaimer: I do get press screeners, a perk of the job, so I can keep up to date for you lovely readers.) So why, still, the cinema? When so much is at everyone’s fingertips already?
Whether you’re just passing through this city or a long-time Berliner, it would be a huge disservice to yourself to not check out all the weird and wonderful Kinos available. Berlin has a very specific type of moviegoing; the Kinos are unique to the Kiez in which they belong, with a punkish or anarchistic spirit found up many flights of stairs. (I’m thinking specifically about how much I need to stop smoking every time I visit Sputnik Kino on Hasenheide, though a cigarette on their rooftop bar is a pleasure that neutralises that feeling).
Berlin has some iconic institutions; Babylon is incredible, like a relic from a bygone era with midnight movies, a live orchestra, deep dives into old and classic cinema. Small impressive arthouse theatres like Lichtblick Kino and Wolf Kino are great little gems with sharp programming and warm folk to chat to. I always experience a certain grandeur when visiting Zoo Palast, Kino International or Astor Film Lounge, all bastions of interior design. It isn’t hard to find a screen tucked down an alley of your liking (I’m looking at you, Kino Central on Rosenthaler Straße). You can also catch old films at the Kino, stuff with libido and gravity. In an era dominated by on-demand content, there are still many keeping the traditional experience of going to the cinema alive. Go see with your own eyes.
