It’s one of Berlin’s most iconic disused buildings and has itself been the backdrop for hit movies, but now Tempelhof Airport is hosting cinematic sessions of a different kind. Thf Cinema is repurposing the West Berlin airport as a pop-up cinema showing a diverse program of movie classics (until 26.12.2021). 300 seats and a big screen have been erected in the airport’s grand departure hall which, if you haven’t been before, is a memorable place with dramatic suspended ceilings and monumental columns. It makes for a highly unusual movie-going experience, with cinema seats surrounded by old neon signs and faded airline branding. Each week hosts a different themed line-up: starting tonight is The Cinematic Lockdown Experience, which features films dealing with the idea of imprisonment.
The all-hit program includes claustrophobic 1962 horror “The Exterminating Angel” (10.12, 20h), Kubrick’s genre-defining “The Shining” (10.12, 22h30), Hitchcock’s 1954 mystery “Rear Window” (11.12, 18h15) and 80s high school classic “The Breakfast Club” (12.12, 18h15). To conclude the program is Season’s Greetings, featuring indisputable Christmas classics like “Love Actually” (25.12, 18h), “It’s a Wonderful Life” (23.12, 21h) and “Die Hard” (23.12 19h30 & 26.12 18h). If you need refreshments, accompanying the screenings is food and drink from Rosinenbar, the airport’s gastro residents. Landmark films screened in one of the city’s most (in)famous buildings? A blockbuster combo if you ask us.
Text: Benji Haughton / Photos: Verena Eidel
Tempelhof Airport, Tempelhofer Damm 23 (GAT entrance), 12101 Berlin–Tempelhof; map
Screenings for Thf Cinema can be booked online. Events are run according to 2G rules.
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