23/09/2013 - The development of art house cinemas and their audience were the key issues at the Filmkunstmesse Leipzig

After five days of screenings with more than 70 films, discussions and workshops, the Filmkunstmesse Leipzig closed with the presentation of the Gilde prizes. Hannah Arendt [+see also:
trailer
interview: Margarethe von Trotta
film profile] by Margarethe von Trotta was rewarded as Best National Film, Wadjda [+see also:
trailer
film profile] as Best International Film while More Than Honey [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Markus Imhoof
film profile] by Markus Imhoof won the award for the Best Documentary and Ostwind by Katja von Garnier for Best Children Movie. The favourite of the audience was the German drama Der blinde Fleck [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Daniel Harrich.

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According to the new FFA study on the development of art house cinemas, 783 out of 4,617 screens in Germany are showing art house films which were attended by 17.1 m cinemagoers in 2012. With a box office of € 113.3 million, the art house market generates almost 13 percent of the total box office in Germany. The average age of the art house audience is 47, which is 11 years older than mainstream moviegoers.

Although there are less and less 35mm prints delivered anymore, not all of the art house cinemas converted to digital yet. “In the digital age we still hold on to old business models that we have had for decades,” remarks Christian Bräuer, chairman of the AG Kino. Instead of the additional prints which were supported by the BKM for theatres in small villages, he suggests providing theatres without digital projection systems with 35mm prints. In order to save these cinemas it is also an important issue to support their digitization. Due to digital projection, cinemas have a much higher electricity consumption. “The multiplex cinemas pay less for their power than art house theatres,” underlines Christian Bräuer. “We have to change that by setting up purchasing pools.”