No, it was not a loveless DVD or Blu-ray played from the laptop (preferably with a projected disc menu and several trial-and-error attempts in front of a gathered audience, as you often experience today):
Rather, it was a relatively new 35mm film copy of the silent film classic “Varieté” (1925, dir: E.A. Dupont), rented from the DIF in Frankfurt, which was presented on January 20, 2019 with a mobile Veroneseprojector in Stuttgart’s St. Mark’s Church. Adam Krukiewicz accompanied Dupont’s most famous work wonderfully in sync on the bombastic sounding church organ. With around 800 visitors, the church was completely full. When organizer Julia Schöllhammer ended her brief film introduction by saying, “We’re showing this movie as a real 35mm movie copy because we think that’s the only authentic form of presenting such a movie,” the audience applauded wildly. And I was speechless.
During the reel change break, there was food and drinks at very civil prices. The highlights: A “cinema plate” with delicious finger food as well as at least four types of beer to choose from. For a moment, I thought about whether church and paradise had anything to do with each other … “Forthose interested, the film presenter, Mr. Eckstein, now explains the film projector”, Ms. Schöllhammer announced after the film ended. Soon the presenter was surrounded by a crowd of people.
No discrimination intended; But I’ve actually never seen so many women ask questions about perforated film before. Where you would still get a film like this today, some wanted to know, and how valuable that film copy was. The “apparatus” would for sure be from the 1950s, said an elderly gentleman. “No, it was built by Veronese in Milan in 2012,” explained the – by the way, an employee of the Kinomobil Baden-Württemberg e.V., who has been providing technical support for the “organ cinema” in St. Mark’s Church since 10 years.
Usually, the “cinema mobile” is now also projecting digital, because the new feature films can no longer be obtained as a 35mm copy. But at the silent film concert in St. Mark’s Church, the Veroneseprojector is used again every year.
(Text: Eberhard Nuffer. Photos: Eberhard Nuffer, Ingrid Nuffer)
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