In 1954, the cinema opened under the name REX-LICHTSPIELE as a local neighborhood cinema — at that time there were still nine other movie theaters in the city!
In the mid-1970s, many things changed in Germany, and the previously rather tame films became increasingly more explicit: REX EROTICA experienced a second heyday, while other cinemas were already forced to close their doors. In 1992, the controversial film house suffered the same fate.
New life was brought to it in 1993 by two young Berliners, who turned the Rex into the RESIDENZ and for the first time attempted to establish an art-house cinema program in Bamberg.
Two years later, in June 1995, Gerrit Zachrich took over the cinema from them. During his student years, he had already co-founded the Bamberg Short Film Festival, the oldest short film festival in Bavaria, organized the first Bamberg Documentary Film Festival, and co-founded a student film club. Since 2000, he has run the business together with Diana Linz.
When it was decided in the same year that a multiplex cinema would open in the town, the last two independent mainstream cinemas gave up. The two art-house cinema operators used this opportunity to open the Odeon, a cinema for a broader range of art-house films. To this day, the small repertory cinema on Untere Königstrasse stands for cinematic art in Bamberg.
The LICHTSPIEL is a cultural center of the city. Events take place every month not only in the cinema hall but also in the adjoining cinema bars. This is why the Lichtspiel receives awards every year: from the German Federal Ministry of Culture, the FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, and also from the European Commission in Brussels.
One of my favourite Indie Theaters is the Lichtspiele Kino in Bamberg (in Germany): https://www.lichtspielkino.de/lichtspiel/
In 1954, the cinema opened under the name REX-LICHTSPIELE as a local neighborhood cinema — at that time there were still nine other movie theaters in the city!
In the mid-1970s, many things changed in Germany, and the previously rather tame films became increasingly more explicit: REX EROTICA experienced a second heyday, while other cinemas were already forced to close their doors. In 1992, the controversial film house suffered the same fate.
New life was brought to it in 1993 by two young Berliners, who turned the Rex into the RESIDENZ and for the first time attempted to establish an art-house cinema program in Bamberg.
Two years later, in June 1995, Gerrit Zachrich took over the cinema from them. During his student years, he had already co-founded the Bamberg Short Film Festival, the oldest short film festival in Bavaria, organized the first Bamberg Documentary Film Festival, and co-founded a student film club. Since 2000, he has run the business together with Diana Linz.
When it was decided in the same year that a multiplex cinema would open in the town, the last two independent mainstream cinemas gave up. The two art-house cinema operators used this opportunity to open the Odeon, a cinema for a broader range of art-house films. To this day, the small repertory cinema on Untere Königstrasse stands for cinematic art in Bamberg.
The LICHTSPIEL is a cultural center of the city. Events take place every month not only in the cinema hall but also in the adjoining cinema bars. This is why the Lichtspiel receives awards every year: from the German Federal Ministry of Culture, the FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, and also from the European Commission in Brussels.