Our pick of Berlin’s best open-air cinemas in 2013
The open air cinema season in Berlin is supposed to run from May to September, but it got off to a slow start this year due to the rain and stubbornly low temperatures. Now the sun is back in Berlin as if it never left, so without further ado, here is the Hotel Concorde Berlin pick of Berlin’s best open-air cinemas in 2013.
Sommerkino Kulturforum ©YorckKinogruppe
The ‘Sommerkino Kulturforum‘ at Potsdamer Platz boasts not only a spectacular backdrop that includes the magnificent Berlin Philharmonics, the New National Gallery, one half of the Berlin State Library and the Sony Centre, but also has a well-curated programme, as you would expect from a project organised by the Yorck Kino group. From this year’s biggest winner at the Deutscher Filmpreis, Oh Boy, to Hollywood blockbusters such as Django Unchained, and for the opening night on 12 June they are showing a preview of heartthrob Ryan Gosling’s latest flick The Place Beyond The Pines. If you only visit one open-air cinema in Berlin this summer, make sure it’s this one.
Sommerkino Kulturforum/Potsdamer Platz
Matthäikirchplatz 4/6, Mitte
12 June – 28 August
website
Freiluftkino Friedrichshain © Piffl Medien
Then there is the ‘Freiluftkino Friedrichshain’, ‘Freiluftkino Kreuzberg’, and ‘Freiluftkino Rehberge’, which are all run by the same organisers and feature mainly new, mainstream cinema. Whilst the one in Friedrichshain’s Volkspark proclaims to be the biggest in Berlin, the one in the picturesque courtyard of Kreuzberg’s Bethanien Kunsthof is particularly recommended for non-German speakers, as English-language films are screened in the original language (with German subtitles) and German films are shown with English subtitles.
Volkspark Friedrichshain
Mariannenplatz
website
Freiluftkino Kreuzberg © Piffl Medien
Berlin’s only drive-in cinema, misleadingly named ‘Autokino Berlin Mitte’ and actually located on the Northern edge of Charlottenburg, is worth a visit, particularly if you don’t fancy sitting on a plastic chair for 2 hours, though many of the open air cinemas now provide infinitely more comfortable deckchairs, latecomers will often find there are none left. The drive-in cinema’s programme mainly features new blockbusters, with the occasional golden oldie thrown in for good measure.
Autokino Berlin Mitte
Kurt-Schumacher-Damm 207, Charlottenburg
28 March – late October
The only free-of-charge open-air cinema in Berlin, the ‘Freiluftkino im Rosengarten’ in the hip Mitte district, is open just once a week, on Tuesdays, and is dedicated to showing classic, must-see films.
Freiluftkino im Rosengarten
Weinbergsweg 13, Mitte
every Tuesday, from 9pm
free admission
Also absolutely deserving of a mention is the open-air cinema in front of the magnificent Charlottenburg Palace. The programme, and indeed whether or not the cinema will be going ahead at all in 2013, has not yet been announced, so make sure to regularly check their website for updates. Due to licensing restrictions, the cinema normally only runs for a month in August. If you’re after something a little more alternative, why not sign up for the newsletter of Nomaden Kino, who organise cinematic events at secret locations around the city, including fields, galleries, abandoned swimming baths and beaches.
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