B-Ware Ladenkino

In the location's words:

Original rococo upholstered furniture, industry and kitsch are the elements that make up the charm of this cozy off-program cinema with adjoining bar and film art cinetheque in the middle of Berlin's Friedrichshain district. The Shop Cinema The term "store cinema" dates back to the early days of cinema. Similar to the American nickelodeons, the "5-cent cinemas," they were not infrequently located in shopping areas or used vacant stores as screening rooms, hence the name. In the vernacular, the store cinemas were often also called "tube cinemas", "narrow towel" or even "flea boxes". The film program of such a store cinema usually changed twice a week. Several (at that time very short) films of different genres were shown one after another: tragedies, comedies, adventure films and early documentaries. One screening lasted about an hour. The films were silent movies accompanied by a musician on the piano or accordion. After each film, the film reel had to be changed. During the resulting intermission, some storefront theaters had musical interludes in which the audience was invited to sing along with the help of superimposed lyrics, so-called "song slides."