Cinema Lives – Arthouse Theatres in Germany
After the last film played at the legendary Arsenal arthouse cinema in Tübingen, director Goggo Gensch accompanies founder Stefan Paul – filmmaker, distributor, and tireless cineast – on a journey to the screens that shaped Germany’s arthouse cinema movement. Paul and companions tell of the beginnings of arthouse cinemas in the 1970s and their daily struggle for survival. Icons like John Waters and Wim Wenders contribute personal memories, while the Hof International Film Festival celebrates underground films.
Cast
- Stefan Paul
- Stefan Paul
Cinema Lives – Arthouse Theatres in Germany
Goggo Gensch
- Documentary
- Production Country / Year
- Germany 2025
- Language
- dt., engl. OF m. dt. UT
- Format
- DCP, Color, 102min
1.85:1, Discrete 5.1
- Original Title
- Kinoleben – Über das Tübinger Arsenal und andere Programmkinos
Director & Crew
Goggo Gensch
Born in 1954. Studied Economics. Worked as a writer and director for SWR. Head of the SWR Doku Festival and responsible for the German Documentary Award. Active as a director, writer and curator.
Filmography
| 2006 | Lippen schweigen | Dokumentarfilm | |
| 2007 | 30 Jahre danach – die RAF in Stuttgart | TV-Dokumentation | |
| 2013 | Nai hämmer gsait – der Widerstand gegen das Atomkraftwerk Wyhl | Dokumentarfilm | |
| 2020 | Stuttgart, ich hänge an dir | Dokumentarfilm | |
| 2025 | Kinoleben - über das Tübinger Arsenal und andere Programmkinos | Dokumentarfilm | 2025 |
“When a cinema closes its doors, it’s always a sad moment. When it was announced that the oldest arthouse cinema in Baden-Württemberg would be showing its last film after 50 years, I took this as an opportunity to get to the bottom of the causes, but also to think about how arthouse cinemas can continue in our digital age. How can they survive? What needs to be done so they can still play a role in the future?
For my generation, these cinemas were identity-forming. We were all shaped by the films that were shown there. A central figure in this story is Stefan Paul, the founder of the Arsenal cinema. As a filmmaker, he brought reggae to Germany with REGGAE SUNSPLASH. As a distributor, he shaped the film program of the past five decades with groundbreaking titles like DIVA and STOP MAKING SENSE. And as a cinema operator, he took over and ran numerous cinemas. To this day, he still can’t bear closed cinemas – and neither can I.”
- Director of Photography
- Heiko Bokern
- Eva Gensch
- Cassie Hamilton
- Christopher Krehahn
- Dorian Ostermann
- Christoph Pustlauk
- Dirk Schwarz
- Editor
- Tim Löschmann
- Sound
- Lisa Bauer
- Milos Fehrle
- Felix Hess
- Elias Reinhard
- Edoardo Rieger
- Producer
- Monika Agler
- Günter Moritz