In 2023, the filmclub münster celebrates its 75th anniversary. This makes it the oldest film club still in existence in Germany and one of the oldest film culture institutions in the country. Its eventful history reflects the development of film culture in the country and is at the same time characterised by very different organisations, people and profiles. A look at its history shows that the founders’ intentions are still very much relevant, but that the idea of a film club must constantly redefine and reposition itself.
From 1948, the founding fathers of the filmclub münster, led by the Münster professor of journalism Walter Hagemann and his colleagues (including Enno Patalas, later director of the Munich Film Museum and one of Germany’s most important film historians, the future directors Theodor Kotulla and Ulrich Schamoni and Heinz Ungureit, long-time head of the ZDF television drama department), not only curated a regular film programme and discussion evenings, but also shaped the film policy discourse. They published the magazines “Der Film-Club”, “Filmforum” from 1951 and “Filmkritik” from 1957, which became the most important forum for film-artistic and film-political debates in the Federal Republic.
More than 3,500 films have been shown since 1948, with almost 4,000 screenings in Münster alone. To mark the anniversary, the publication “Andere Blicke – 75 Jahre filmclub münster” has now been released. It was presented by editors Daniel Huhn and Carsten Happe and publisher Carmen Strzelecki at the end of November in the Studiobühne at the University of Münster and is now available in well-stocked bookshops.
150 pages of Film & Münster – “Andere Blicke” examines the decisive role that the German film clubs – and the filmclub münster in particular – played for film culture in Germany after the end of the Second World War and in the years that followed. To this end, contemporary witnesses and protagonists were interviewed; the interviews date back to the 1970s. The result is an impressive document of the times.
“Andere Blicke 75 Jahre filmclub münster” is published by STRZELECKI-BOOKS, costs 18 euros and can be ordered HERE.
“Andere Blicke – 75 Jahre filmclub münster” traces the history of the film club movement and poses the still topical question: How do we want to experience film together?
All photos: Ralf Emmerich
After the book presentation on 27.11.2023, we went together to the Schloßtheater for the first screening of “Alle Jahre wieder” this winter. Ulrich Schamoni’s film has been a cult film in the filmclub münster’s Advent programme for more than twenty-five years.
