Kino in Nový Bor / Czech Republic

 

Kultura Nový Bor writes about the cinema: 

The permanent screening of silent films was allowed to the town of Bor near Česká Lípa on September 10, 1920, by granting a license to the District Political Administration in Česká Lípa with the assurance that no further concession would be granted within a radius of 4 km. It was screened in the building of today's falconry, which then belonged to the German Gymnastics Association. This makeshift, dependent on the benevolence of the association, led the city council to build its own modern theater building, which also serves to screen films. 

The cinema was a project of the architect Rudolf Bitzan, a native of Stráž pod Ralskem, living in Dresden, who has already designed the new theater in Teplice and a cinema in Teplice. He was also architect of the Crematorium and urn grove in Liberec-Perštýn. According to his plan, the cinema was built by the local company Rösler and Glaser, under the leadership of architect Riegl.

The ceremonial opening took place on November 13, 1926 at 8 pm, with the participation of important guests from the provincial authorities, district representatives and representatives of neighboring towns and villages. On Sunday, November 14, the morning promenade concert in front of the cinema followed, and in the evening the feature film An der schönen blauen Donau (Germany, 1926) was screened. Ferdinand Krehan from Česká Lípa became the tenant of the building.

Until 1980, two reconstructions took place, which mainly concerned projection technology, electrical installation and interior. On June 30, 1981, a large fire destroyed virtually the entire building. The next day, the Municipal National Committee decided on a complete reconstruction of the cinema. According to the architectural solution of Ing. arch. Rudolf Bergr and Ing. Vladimír Novák from Stavoprojekt Ústí nad Labem, carried out the reconstruction of the Nový Bor District Construction Company. Construction manager Walter John handed over the construction to the Municipal National Committee in April 1989.

On April 21, 1989, the cinema was ceremoniously opened with a new Czech film Oznamuje se láskám vašim / Communicating to Your Love. Mr. Radovan Novotný was appointed head of the cinema. The Municipal Cinema won the "Cinema of the Year" award in 1996 and 1999.

The Cinema still works and has one hall with 293 seats.

The postcard was published between 1938 and 1945, when the city belonged to Germany. Since 1948 the town is named Nový Bor. 

Scala in Mukachevo / Ukraine

 

The cinema Scala opened in 1929. At this times (from 1919 till 1938) the city Mukachevo in Transcarpathia was part of Czechoslovakia, later of Hungary (till 1945), then of the Soviet Union and since 1991 Ukraine.

The cinema was built in the style of modernism. It was designed by the famous Czechoslovak architect Ludovít Oelschläger (1896-1984) a native of the Slovak city of Košice. Among his works the Jewish synagogue and school in Košice, cinema Slovan in Košice, trade academy in Mukachevo (now city house of culture), Sanatorium in Tatranská Polianka, a cinema in Uzhhorod.

In Soviet times, the name Scala was changed into Перемога / Peremoha ("Victory") - as you can see above the entry on the 1958 published postcard. The cinema was renamed in the 1990s and still works. Today there are 329 places in the hall and a VIP-box on the balcony with 82 seats and separate tables.

Balkon-Kino in Berlin/Germany

 

In 1994, the Wohnungsbaugesellschaft Hellersdorf (WoGeHe - a housing association, today Stadt und Land) stretched  a canvas between two steel scaffolding on Stendaler Strasse for the first time. A new open-air cinema was born. Viewers could enjoy the films free of charge from the balcony or from the space in front of the screen. Everyone brings their own chair. Balkon-Kino  - Balcony cinema.

In 2005, the Balkon-Kino moved from Stendaler Strasse to Cecilienplatz, and shows four films in one season.

The postcard is a free postcard from the Wohnungsbaugesellschaft Hellersdorf, published between 1994 and 1999. I like this view of the audience. 

Cinema's name remembers me the film Sommer vorm Balkon, directed by Andreas Dresen 2004 in Berlin ...

Caroli, Regina, Rex in Rüsselsheim am Main / Germany

 

Rüsselsheim is famous for the Opel car production. And good workers need good entertainment in their spare time. The 1962 sent postcard shows the building Friedensplatz 6 in Rüsselsheim. Honestly, it doesn't show a cinema - only neon signs for three cinemas.

Caroli was opened on Christmas Day 1955 with 407 seats, Rex was opened in 1956 with 482 seats (not far away from Friedensplatz) and closed in 2011, Regina has opened from 1957 till 1985. From 1958 all three cinemas belonged to Kurt Palm.

Kurt Palm, born in 1924 in Mainz-Gustavsburg, made his first 8mm films at a young age and initially trained as an electrician. During the Second World War he was employed as a cameraman and reporter. In 1947, he opened his first movie theater Burg-Lichtspiele (today Burglichtspiele Gustavsheim) in a 1899 built chapel.

Palm soon expanded its business activities. He owned more than twenty movie theaters and began to produce films himself. His best-known projects include the documentary Der 2. Weltkrieg / The Second World War (1982) and various erotic films. His REPA Filmproduktion GmbH was one of the most successful German film producers in the early 1970s.

Palm's busy life finished in 2013.

I publish this no-cinema-showing postcard because cinemas are not only any buildings for showing films. Making good entertainment is a hard job from Monday till Sunday, all year long, done by enthusiastic men and women and not by machines. When these people die, a piece of culture and history and their stories are also dying.

Kino International in Berlin/Germany - "Die Frau, die man nie vergessen kann" 1964

 

Another postcard in my collection of Kino International in Berlin. It is a view of Karl-Marx-Allee (until 1961 Stalinallee) with the cinema on the left, looking east to Strausberger Platz. The two 14-story high-rise buildings were built in the 1950s as Haus des Kindes (House of the Child) and Haus Berlin. In addition to the apartments for hundreds of workers, there was a dancing bar in Haus Berlin and in Haus des Kindes there were a puppet theater, a kindergarten, a children's department store and a children's cafe.

It wasn't easy to read the advertised movie on the poster. I could identify it with the help of the book Mehr Kunst als Werbung. Das DDR-Filmplakat by Detlef Helmbold (even if the poster does not match the illustration in the book). It is the Polish movie Die Frau, die man nie vergessen kann / Naprawdę wczoraj (Poland 1963, directed by Jan Rybkowski). This movie was released in East Germany on July 10, 1964.

The postcard was published in 1965 by Gebr. Garloff KG Magdeburg.

In October 2020 I visited Berlin and Kino International. There was a little interesting exhibition inside Pavillions für die Karl-Marx-Allee. And I heard, that Berlin's Karl-Marx-Allee should be on the Unesco World Heritage List.

I didn't see a movie there. I preferred to walk along Karl-Marx-Allee to Warschauer Strasse. I was amazed that there was so little going on on the avenue on a Saturday afternoon.

Lichtspielhaus in Nerchau/Germany

 

Nerchau today has about 3800 inhabitants and belongs to the city of Grimma, it is located on the river Mulde.

The cinema Lichtspielhaus ("Light Play House" = Movie Theater) in Nerchau opened on 25th December 1912. Hermann Märker was the owner. I think he is the man on the picture below left, to the left of the door. Maybe, the woman to the right is his wife.

Hermann Märker was a plumber by trade, with his own business.

Look at his advertisment in the address book of Grimma 1912:

"Nerchauer Lichtspiel-Theater. Great constant theater, singing and speaking photographs in the highest perfection. The very latest events of the day in the picture. Pleasant, interesting stay.
Program changes every Wednesday and Saturday.
Excellent entertainment music from first-class instruments during the presentation of the slides.
Half price for students and children."

I don't know if the house was newly built with a cinema in 1912, it could be. A year later, Hermann Märker opened another cinema in Brandis, a city 25 km away.

The 1912 opened cinema with 200 seats was the only one in Nerchau and closed in 1991.

In its last years it was used as a Café-Kino with 60 seats, where you could have a meal during watching a movie. If you look at the postcard, there was already a Café in this house in 1912, maybe run by Hermann Märker's wife Lina.

Karl-Marx-Lichtspiele in Stadtroda/Germany

 

Stadtroda is a city with about 5.000 inhabitants in Thuringia. It has a castle and an old monastery, and no more cinema.
The cinema Karl-Marx-Lichtspiele opened in 1955 and closed in 1991. It was newly built with apartments above the cinema hall.
You can see bove the entrance a poster for the film Zwei Mütter / Two Mothers (East Germany 1957, directed by Frank Beyer).
The film was Frank Beyer's graduation film at the Film School of the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU) in Prague. The film tells the story of two women, one French and the other German, who fight for a child who has been mistakenly taken by the Germans after a bomb raid.
In 1974, Frank Beyer directed the film Jakob der Lügner / Jacob the Liar - the only East German picture ever selected for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Bali in Oberhausen/Germany

 

Bali - sounds like wide world and adventure, and only means Bahnhofs-Lichtspiele - Railway Station Cinema. So you can see on this 1959 sent postcard the railway station in Oberhausen and about in the middle the lettering BALI above the showcases and BALI Kino left above the main entrance.

From 1930 to 1934, the station was built in the classic modern style. The Oberhausen architect Schwingel and the Reichsbahnoberrat Karl Herrmann designed the current building with a clear and calm cubist design language.

During the World War II, the station was badly damaged. The reception building hall could not be put back into operation until 1954 in a greatly modified form, a false ceiling was put in to install the Bali cinema in the upper part, and a small shopping arcade was created below it.

The BALI cinema opened as a newsreel cinema operated by AKI (Aktualitätenkino AG). These newsreel cinemas opened with the aim of reducing the waiting time for rail passengers to get to their train connection. The more televisions there were at the homes, the less important newsreel cinemas became. From 1982 there were shown sex films not only in BALI Oberhausen. And finally it was closed in 1984.

Another former newsreel cinema in my collection: Filmtheater Hauptbahnhof in Dresden

Röda Kvarn in Halmstad/Sweden

 

Another maximum card showing a cinema building, published in Sweden in 1998. The design was by Eva Lena Johansson, the stamp was made by Piotr Naszarkowski, photo was taken by Kjell Furberg.
Furberg, who worked as a cinema machinist, has made a name for himself as a cinema historian and his book Svenska Biografer / Cinema Theatres in Sweden was published in 2000. 
The cinema Röda Kvarn ("Red Mill") was built in 1925 according to drawings by the town architect August Svensson (1886–1935). Opening in February 1926, it had 500 seats in one hall.
What distinguishes the cinema is mainly a magnificent classicist screen façade on two floors that is unparalleled in Sweden. Changes have been made to the interior during the 1950s and 1970s, mainly in terms of surface layers, proscenium and ticket office, but on the whole the interior is well preserved with a lounge, balcony and lower and upper foyer. Many time- and cinema-typical details are preserved. The cinema conveys knowledge about the aesthetic ideals of the 1920s and about the importance that the cinema had as a central entertainment palace during the early 20th century. Its unique façade reflects the ambition to give the cinema and the film a reputation and status as a cultural institution through a pompous architecture.
The cinema has been a building monument since 27 May 1994.
Today cinema Röda Kvarn has five halls with 562 seats at all. It is Halmstad's only cinema.

Cathay in Singapore

Cathay Cinema in the Cathay Building was opened on 3 October 1939. The building was the first skyscraper in Singapore and at a height of 83.5 metres the tallest building in Southeast Asia at that time. It was designed by British architect Frank W. Brewer and was the headquarters for the British Malaya Broadcasting Corporation.

Cathay Cinema had 1.300 seats and it was the island's first air-conditioned cinema.
The name Cathay is an alternative European historical name for China and from the 1935 founded Cathay Organisation Holdings Limited, a Singapore's leisure and entertainment group.
In 1990, Cathay Organisation opened Singapore's first arthouse cinema, The picturehouse adjacent to Cathay Building. The main Cathay Cinema was then converted into a two-hall cineplex.
Cathay Cinema closed in 2000. The front facade of its theatre building structure was gazetted as a national monument for conservation on 10 February 2003, while the rest of the building structure was later demolished.
The newly built Cathay was opened on 24 March 2006. Today there is the 8-screen Cathay Cineplex.

You can see on the postcard, the poster for the movie They Shall Have Music (USA, 1939) and above the entrance advertising for The Man in the Iron Mask (USA, 1939).

Queen's Theatre in Singapore

It's not easy to read the cinema's name in the middle of all these posters.
Queen's Theatre is a cinema in the Singaporean suburb Geylang. It opened in 1930 as Wembley Cinema.
In 1939 the name was changed into Queen's Theatre.
The photo is from autumn 1940 and the advertised movies are:
- Espionage Agent (USA, 1939)
- Siti Akbari (Dutch East Indies, 1940)
- Her Jungle Love (USA, 1940)
- Block-Heads with Laurel & Hardy (USA, 1938).
The writing at the top does not announce a new film: They are greetings for the Muslim Festival of breaking the Fast. Greetings connected with the names of poplar actors Rokiah, Radin Mochtar, Kartolo, Annie Landouw and Titing - all from Indonesia.
Also the poster at the bottom left doesn't advertise a film either: Kronchong is the name of a ukulele-like instrument and an Indonesian musical style. Also popular at the movies.

So you had could spend a good time at the Queen's Theatre.
The cinema was closed in 1982.
In 2000, GrandLink Square was built on the site of the former Queen’s Theatre. Its front facade was kept and become part of the facades of the GrandLink Square.

The Majestic in Singapore

The Majestic Theatre opened in 1928. It was built as an opera house by buisnessman Eu Tong Sen for one of his wives, who loved Cantonese Opera. Eu also formed an opera troupe for her.
The building was designed by Swan and Maclaren, most prominent architectural firm in Singapore at this time. The centre of the facade is decorated with five Chinese figures, and is framed with a tiled Chinese style border.
The Majestic Theatre was a venue for Cantonese opera until 1938, then it was converted into a cinema. The Shaw Brothers rented the place, renamed it The Queen's Theatre, and used it to screen the latest Cantonese blockbuster films. On the postcard, you can see all the posters advertise movies with Chinese letters.
In 1998 the cinema was closed.
In the early 2000s, the building was renovated into a three-story shopping mall and opened under the name The Majestic on 17 January 2003.

Capitol Building in Singapore

It's a bit strange about Capitol in Singapore: There is Capitol Theatre and Capitol Building (so written on the stamp). Both buildings were built in 1929/30 and stand next to each other. But there is only one cinema opened on 22 May 1930 - the Capitol Theatre.

The Capitol Theatre was designed neoclassical architecture by British architects Keys and Dowdeswell, inspired from the Roxy Theatre in New York. It had 1.100 seats on the ground floor and 500 seats at the circle. On 22 May 1930, Capitol Theatre officially opened with musical comedy film Rio Rita (USA, 1929).
In the 1930s, the Capitol was the largest and the newest cinema in Singapore.
Movie stars like Charlie Chaplin, Ava Gardner, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks visited the theatre to promote their movies in Singapore.

In 1989, the theatre closed for a two-week renovation with rewiring, reequipped with the new sound system and projectors and painting of the cinema hall and reopened on 26 October 1989 with Lethal Weapon 2. But closed in December 1998. 

Fortunatelly, the Capitol reopened on 19 May 2015 with the world premiere of Singapura: The Musical. Now 977 seats are ready for different venues.
The advertised movie is Bengal Brigade (USA, 1954).

Rex Theatre in Singapore

SingPost - the Singapore Post - was releasing in 2009 a set of Cinema Theatres of Yesteryear stamps featuring the cinemas Cathay, The Majestic, Capitol, Queens and Rex. I had the chance to buy this issue as maximum cards.
The first public screening in Singapore was in 1902 at a tent in an open space at the junction of River Valley Road and Hill Street, and that the first movie theatre opened its door in 1904.
Rex Theatre was opened in 1946.
It was designed by Berthel Michael Iversen, a Danish architect. Rex Theatre had to shut down its doors in 1976 due to rampancy of videotape piracy. From then on there were no cinemas in the district. 

Later it was a performance house, an ice rink, a Methodist Church and a disco. In 2009, Rex Theatre was converted into a 3 hall modernised cinema and reopened as Rex Cinemas. The main hall on the ground floor has 570 seats, while the other two can accommodate 82 patrons each. In 2018 the cinema was closed again.

On the photo (it is the same on the stamp and on the postcard) you can see promoting the movies House of Dracula (USA, 1945) and The Dolly Sisters (USA, 1945).
Here you can find memories and pictures of Rex Theatre.

Cinedom in Köln/Germany

Cinedom in Köln/Cologne is one of the oldest multiplex cinemas in Germany. It was opened on December 20, 1990. The oldest multiplex cinema in Germany is only 10 kilometers away: UCI Kino Hürth Park, opened in October 1990, today with 14 halls. But despite its size and marketing, you'll rarely find a postcard with a multiplex cinema.
I got this postcard from Carla from Cologne via Postcrossing. It isn't a published postcard, it was made by herself and internet. An unique postcard.
The movie theater was a project of film producer Bernd Eichinger (1949-2011). He wanted good cinemas for good films, not the box cinemas of the 70s and 80s. A cathedral for movies with large screens, high technology and convenience for everybody. The architect was Eberhard Zeidler.
The centerpiece of the complex with its tuff facade, is the fully glazed rotunda that opens onto the central square of the Media Park and is covered by a dome at a height of over 30 meters. The 30-meter-high building has a large glass facade on its front side facing the square, which allows a view of the interior of the Cinedom at night.
Tody the Cinedom offers 3748 seats in 14 halls, making it the fifth largest German multiplex cinema. Since 1997, the Cinedom has been the cinema with the highest turnover and the highest number of visitors in Germany.
Danke, Carla, für diese Postkarte!

New Victoria Cinema in London/United Kingdom

I got this perfect card from Marleen from Belgium via Postcrossing: A view of the New Victoria Cinema in London. I think the photo is from the 1930s.
The building is across from London Victoria Station and today known as Apollo Victoria Theatre. 
The theatre opened as the New Victoria Cinema on 15 October 1930 with the movie Old English (United Kingdom, 1930), plus a stage show Hoop-La. It was designed for Provincial Cinematograph Theatres (PCT) by William Edward Trent and Ernest Wamsley Lewis.
The interior is unique and a testament to art deco design.
Seating capacity was originally for 2,860, with 1,076 in the balcony. The stage designed for cine-variety  measures 22.56 metres by 7.32 metres. 
Film entertainment ended here on 1st November 1975 with the double bill: Legend of the Werewolf  (United Kingdom, 1975) and Vampire Circus (United Kingdom, 1972).
The Apollo Victoria became in 1981 a venue for musical theatre, beginning with The Sound of Music, Starlight Express from 1984 to 2002, now the musical Wicked since 2006.
The Apollo Victoria is one of the UK’s best preserved 1930’s ‘super cinemas’ and its unique design and excellent condition fully justify its Grade II* Listed building status which was bestowed by English Heritage in 1972. A real cinema treasure.
Dank u, Marleen!

Kino Sõprus in Tallinn/Estonia

Kino Sõprus is the oldest existing cinema in Estonia. The house was built in 1955. Its name is meaning "Friendship", an often used name of cinemas in former socialist countries.
The postcard is from Eesti Arhitektuurimuuseum / Museum of Estonian Architecture. They have written the names of the architects on the postcard: Peeter Tarvas and August Volberg. The photo was taken by Karl Oras.
There are advertised two movies:
- on the right Бессонная ночь / Unetu öö / Sleeples Night (USSR, 1960)
- on the left Зимняя фантазия / Talvi Fantaasia / Winter fantasy (USSR, 1960).
The cinema had from beginning two halls. Today they have  210 seats plus 30 seats in the cinema bar in one hall.
I got this postcard via Postcrossing. Tänud, Marianne!

Sandleitenkino in Wien / Austria

The postcard was sent in 1935, has published before 1934. In 1934 the street's name was changed from Liebknechtgasse to Eberhartgasse.
The cinema opened in 1928 and had 600 places. In 1930 there came sound film, in 1966 the cinema was closed.
I bought this postcard because Sandleiten is an interesting residential area in Vienna. As part of the "Red Vienna" residential building policy, it is an urban residential complex with 1.587 apartments originally built in five stages from 1924 to 1928. The complex, the building blocks of which are mainly divided according to the angle of the sun, is located in the middle of a park-like complex with only a few streets. Its basic concept emerged from an architectural competition and was viewed as an urban planning attempt. 

The large residential complex was then built according to designs by Otto Schönthal, Emil Hoppe, Franz Matuschek, Siegfried Theiß, Hans Jaksch, Josef Tölk and Franz Krauß.
There were planned not only apartments for 5.000 to 6.000 inhabitants, also doctor's apartments, pharmacies, shops, workshops, an inn and a café, rooms for the police and fire service, laundries, bathing facilities, a kindergarten and a library. And a cinema. Everything you need for a good life.

Bergen Kino / Norway

The first public film screening in Norway was on April 6, 1896. Christiania's Circus Variete had something completely new in the program: Max Skladanowsky showed "levende bilder" with his bioscop. 
But I don't know what the date "September 20, 1896" (like written on this postcard) means for Norwegian cinema history. It was the first issue date of the stamp series.
You can see on the stamp:
- Norwegian actor Leif Juster
- Scottish producer and actor Sean Connery and Norwegian actress Liv Ullman
- Norwegian actors Arve Opsahl, Sverre Holm and Carsten Byhring from the Norwegian Olsenbanden
- Norwegian actor, comedian and singer Harald Heide-Steen jr.

On the postcard, you can see the cinema Konsertpaleet. It opened in 1961 and has over time been expanded and merged into a modern multi-storey cinema. Next to it, multiplex cinema Magnus Barfot opened in 2004. 

Leipzig in Kiev/Ukraine

Я училась в школе: Лейпциг город-побратим Киева. Но я не узнала, что в Киеве есть кинотеатр Лейпциг. И в Киеве есть (былы) кинотеатры с названиями других городов-партнеров: Братислава, Ереван, Киото, Тампере, Флоренция. Я не знаю ни одного другого города, где бывали кинотеатры с названиями городов-побратимов. В Лейпциге был ресторан Город Киев. Я никогда не былa там, ни в Киеве, ни на Украине ...

In Kiev there is a tradition for naming cinemas after twin cities. So there are cinemas Bratislava, Yerevan, Kyoto, Tampere, Florence - and Leipzig. I like the special typographic representation of these cinema names. Cinema Leipzig was opened on October 30, 1974 and still works. 

The postcard was published in 1991. It is a special postcard because the photo was taken around New Year's Day 1990 - look at the decorated tree and the wishes above the entrance.

Milenium in Słupsk/Poland

Cinema Milenium in Słupsk - the name points to the future of cinematography. Opened in 1963, it was one of the first in Poland to have a cinerama. It belonged to the ten most important cinemas in Poland .
The cinema inaugurated its activity on April 4, 1963 with a screening of the film Zerwany most (Poland 1962, directed by Jerzy Passendorfer).
Initially, the Milenium cinema had 724 seats in the auditorium, but their number decreased slightly after subsequent renovations and as a result of enlarging the stage. At the beginning of the 1970s, the number of seats was reduced to 640, in 1979 the reclining seats were replaced with new ones, and in 1999 another renovation and modernization of the stage forced the number of seats to be reduced to 600. 
On December 16, 2000 the cinema showed its last film: Zerwany most.
Now there is a supermarket in this building.
You can read the advertised movie above the entrance: Lekarstwo na miłość (Poland 1966, directed by Jan Batory).
I found many photos of this cinema here.

Wenus in Zielona Góra/Poland

Yuri Gagarin, the first person in space, visited Zielona Góra in July 1961. In the same year, cinema Wenus in Zielona Góra was opened with 440 seats. It was for 47 years the most visited cinema in the city. Today the building is used for the Wenus Planetarium.

Kino International in Berlin/Germany - "Die Befreiung" 1970

Another postcard from Kino International in Berlin.
The cinema advertises the movie Die Befreiung. Teil 1 - Der Feuerbogen. Teil 2 - Der Durchbruch.
Two parts of total 5 from the Soviet movie Освобождение / The Liberation about the World War II, directed by Yuri Ozerov (1969). The movie came to East German cinemas in May 1970 and was shown in 70mm in special cinemas.
The postcard was published in 1971 by Verlag Felix Setecki, Berlin. It was sent in September 1971 to a woman, she lived across the street from my current apartment ...

Cinetower in Alsdorf/Germany

Alsdorf is a city in West Germany near Aachen and the border to the Netherlands.
The tower was a water tower in Alsdorf, built around 1910 for the waterworks with a capacity of 1000 m³ on a brick shaft. In addition to its value as an architectural monument to the city of Alsdorf, the tower also has a symbolic character for the city and especially for the Cinema Center.
In 1997 the historic water tower got a new interior. The Alsdorf cinema family Stürtz, which has been writing cinema history for Alsdorf since the 1930s, developed the idea of building a completely new kind of cinema and leisure experience space at the same location or in the immediate vicinity. A few meters from the existing cinemas in Rathausstrasse, the old water tower in the middle of Alsdorf, offered itself as an ideal area for the realization of such a project.

Today they have two cinema locations in immediate vicinity: In the Rathausstrasse the KINOPARK with Thalia, Atrium, Gloria and Forum and in the Hubertusstrasse the CINETOWER with the halls Tower 5-9.

The postcard was published by Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen, the photo was taken by Clemens Kisselbach.

Petar Velev in Peshtera/Bulgaria

Who was Petar Velev? I found another postcard with a Monument of Petar Velev in Peshtera. As known from the Bulgarian Wikipedia, he was a member of the communist Batak partisan detachment during the partisan movement in Bulgaria (1941 - 1944). Died in 1944.
The postcard is from 1975, Maybe, the cinema opened just before.
There are (or were) plans for a museum of socialist cars in the large hall of the empty cinema. 
At all, Bulgarian films are very unknown. I only remeber watching Tilt in 2013, a film about youth in Bulgaria in the early 1990s. I liked it.

Spartaks in Riga/Latvia

This postcard with the cinema Spartaks in Riga is a bit strange. Nothing looks like a cinema. But on the backyard is written: Latvijas PSR. Rīga, Kinoteātris 'Spartaks'.
The cinema was built next to the cinema Rīga / Splendid Palace and opened in 1969. Documentaries were mainly shown there without interruption.
Today the building is part of Splendid Palace, the second smaller hall.

Capitol in Wałbrzych/Poland

Wałbrzych is a city in the Polish Lower Silesian Voivodeship near the Czech border. Until the early 1990s, it was the center of the Lower Silesian coalfield. The city has had the Polish name Wałbrzych since 1945, former it was the German Waldenburg.
The cinema Capitol was built in a modernist style by the architect Ludwig Moshamer. The opening took place on December 28, 1928. 

After the war, it was the Mining House of Culture of the Thorez Mine. (I went to Maurice Thorez school in Leipzig...).

There are plans for a reconstruction and using again as a House of Culture.

Here I found many pictures of the cinema building.

The postcard is from a postcard calendar from 1980 Waldenburger Bergland.

Kosmoss in Riga/Latvia

"The new widescreen filmtheater Kosmos" is written on the 1962 published postcard.
The cinema was on Pētersalas ielā 18a, near the harbor. Today there is a shop at this address.

Kino in Benešov nad Ploučnicí/Czech Republic

Stadt-Bensner-Lichtspiele is written on the postcard. Bensen is today Benešov nad Ploučnicí, a town in the Ústí nad Labem region of the Czech Republic.

The cinema was built in 1927 and was reconstructed several times. Today it is used as the municipal cultural center. It has a deep stage that also offers space for larger theater or music ensembles as well as balls, exhibitions and competitions.

Colosseum in Berlin/Germany

The Colosseum in the city of Berlin is a cinema since nearly 100 years. Originally, it was built as a wagon hall in 1984 and was used as a horse and bus depot until the end of the First World War.
The conversion to the cinema was carried out by Fritz Wilms in the early 1920s based on a preliminary planning by Max Bischoff. On September 12, 1924, the film theater opened. It had 1000 seats for visitors, who, in addition to silent film performances, could also experience variety events with orchestral accompaniment.
After renovations by the architect Karl-August Borchardt, the cinema openes on May 2, 1957 with the film Mazurka der Liebe (Hans Müller, GDR 1957). It was the first DEFA film in Totalvision (the East German equivalent of CinemaScope ) and the Colosseum was now a special place for showing these films.
The Colosseum has been the premiere cinema of East Berlin untill Kosmos and Kino International opened.
From May 1996 till December 1997, the cinema was new constructed to a multiplex cinema by the architects Thies Jentz and Peter Wiesner from the Hamburg architects me di um. The house was converted into a multiplex by nine other halls. But the 50s design of Hall 1 and the original foyer on Schönhauser Allee were also renovated.
The postcard was published in 1957. Cinema advertised the film 4 Herzen in Rom / Roman Tales / Racconti Romani (Gianni Franciolini, Italy 1955).

Schaubühne Lindenfels in Leipzig/Germany

A building full of history of entertainment in an urban area outside the center.
Its history started in 1876, when it was built as a social hall for dance events. Films were shown here as early as 1906. In 1913, regular film showing began by the cinema owner Joseph Fey. There was one hall with 800 seats. After 1945 the name was changing from Schloss Lindenfels to Lichtspiele Lindenfels. It was used as a cinema untill 1987, when the heating system was broken.
An interesting fact is that cinema operators have been trained in this cinema.
In 1994, the building was reopened for theater and cinema with two halls, now called Schaubühne Lindenfels.
The photo was taken by Olaf Weißhuhn.

Cinema in Piennes/France

I saw 1917 and They shall not grown old and Un long dimanche de fiançailles in the cinema. This postcard reminds me of these films. 

Piennes is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France, about 40 km northeast of Verdun. The cinema was used by German army, later it was a hospital during the war. I don't know if it was used as a cinema before and after the war. The building is still standing (look at this interesting website www.morthomme.com.)

The postcard was sent in October 1916 by military mail from France to Germany. Arthur wrote to his wife Frieda in Chemnitz. Among other things, he asked her sending him the shaving kit. He didn't write anything about a hospital or a cinema.

The address book for Chemnitz 1915 finds a baker Mr. A. M. Fischer on Münchner Strasse 10.  And also the 1920 address book. And there's still a bakery today at this address.

Rodina in Ufa/Russia

The Cinema Rodina (Motherland) is an historic cinema building in Lenin Street, the main street of Ufa. The building was opened in 1953, and is still working.

The cinema was built according to the project of architect Semyon Ivanovich Yakshin in the style of Stalin's Empire. The cinema had two large cinema halls - named Red and Blue, each with 350 seats. A small Green Hall with 60 seats was used for showing cartoons and documentaries. 

On the opening day in July 1953, thousands of Ufa residents visited the new cinema and watched the film Незабываемый 1919-й год / The Unforgettable Year 1919 (USSR, 1951).

In the 1990s, the cinema building underwent reconstruction, the cinema equipment was replaced.

It is now a listed building.

The cinema often holds film premieres with the participation of Russian filmmakers and also weeks of thematic cinema (Russian Film Festival, Indian Cinema Week, Kazakh Cinema Days).

The cinema building looks very similar to Cinema Ukraina in Novorossiysk, even I named there another architect.
The postcard is from 1990.

Filmbühne in Schwarzheide/Germany

Schwarzheide is a small town about 140 km south of Berlin. When the postcard was printed in 1963, about 8,200 people lived there. Today fewer than 6,000 people live there. But it is an important town thanks to lignite. A plant was built in 1935 in Schwarzheide as a hydrogenation plant for the production of synthetic gasoline and has primarily been used for polyurethane production since 1972. After Ludwigshafen, the production there is one of the largest European locations within the BASF group.
This cinema opened in 1940 in Schwarzheide. The owner was Hans Prinz, he called it Prinz-Lichtspiele. It had 481 places. With the nationalization, the name was changed to Filmbühne.

Films were shown there until 1991. 

The building has been used as a town hall since 1998.

Rossiya in Kislovodsk/Russia

Kislovodsk is a spa city in the North Caucasus region of Russia located between the Black and Caspian Seas. It has about 120.000 inhabitants.

Cinema Rossiya was opened in 1970 with 1000 seats. It closed in 2008, the postcard is from 1974.

There are plans for a culture center in it.

Kino in Lwiw/Ukraine

This postcard was printed in Kraków in 1916 and sent with military mail in the same year.
You can see on this postcard only a sign "Kino" on the left building. This house was on Academic Square 5 in Lemberg, now Shevchenko Avenue No. 28 in Lviv and is still standing. And there has been a Cinema for nearly 100 years.
First cinema Corso was founded in 1912 by engineer Karol Zygmunt Richtmann in his own home on  Academic Square, 5. In 1912, the owners of the cinema became the entrepreneurs Herman Opat and Ludwik Kuchar. In the 1920's, a reconstruction project developed by architect-engineer V. Litvinovich expanded the auditorium. In 1926 the cinema was called Warsaw, in the same year its name was changed to Rokoko.
In 1928-1938 - the cinema was called Pan and had 246 seats for spectators. After August 1938, the cinema operated under the name Rialto, which remained until the end of the German occupation (1944). The project was designed by architect-architect Adam Mściwujewski. Made in 1930s styling, it consisted of a light box 4.50 m wide for the cinema repertoire and neon signage. In 1936, the movie theater was headed by Maria Majewska and the owners were Leon and Celina Brenner and Helena Lippel.

After the Second World War cinemas were restored immediately, the cinema was organized in August 1944 with the name Pioneer and in 1950 it was renamed Georges Cinema. In the early 1990's, it was named after Taras Shevchenko.
Since 2012, the Grushevsky Cinema & Jazz restaurant has been located here.

I was delighted to find this information with good pictures here.

Autokino Koberbachtalsperre Langenhessen/Germany

The Koberbach dam in West Saxony is an important economic building, but also a place for leisure sports and entertainment. 
Since 1992 there is a drive-in cinema: Autokino Langenhessen - one of the biggest in Germany with three screens. You can see there movies from March till November.

Amphitheatre in Red Rocks Park/USA

I got this postcard via postcrossing from Jess. She wrote "Believe it or not, this is a place to watch movies. Every summer and parts of Autumn and Spring, you can go to this Beautiful mountain area and watch films or concerts."

Red Rocks Park is Denver's mountain park on the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in the central part of the US state of Colorado. The Red Rocks Amphitheater is the main attraction of the 351-hectare park.

It is an open-air stage embedded between two approximately 100-meter-high sandstone cliffs, which can accommodate around 9,400 people and is known for its outstanding acoustics. The stage was completed in 1941, but was not used for a public event until 1947. Due to its size, it is suitable for large music and Theater events. The best-known artists who performed there also included the Beatles (1964), Bruce Springsteen (1978), Eric Clapton (1983), Sting (1985), U2 (1983), Neil Young (2000), Depeche Mode (2009), Disturbed (2016) and Bad Company (2017).

Since 1999, a joint production of the Denver Film Society and Denver Arts & Venues, Film on the Rocks was created to provide the community with an affordable opportunity to enjoy movies and live entertainment at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre.

Thank you, Jess, for showing me this interesting place!

Update 12/09/2022

In the cinema Schauburg, I saw this week the documentary Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song. In one scene, Eric Church sings the song in this amphitheater in 2016. He himself was deeply impressed and said, it was like being in a church. 

I'm sure, this scenery is unique.

I met the song Hallelujah in the films Saint Ralph (Canada, 2004) and Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei (Germany, 2004). I like them very much.

For me, the film Life according to Agfa (Israel, 1993) is also closely linked to the songs of Leonard Cohen.

Capitol in Leipzig/Germany

Leipzig's tradition as an important trade fair location in central Europe with one of the oldest trade fairs in the world dates back to 1190. The Petershof built from 1927 to 1929 as a trade fair building by architect Alfred Liebig (1878–1952). There was also the Capitol cinema until 2003.

The cinema was opened in 1929 with 1714 places in one hall. The Munich film group Emelka was the owner of the cinema. Emelka had to file for bankruptcy in November 1932 because its theater chain was unable to cope financially with the conversion to sound film. So the UFA was the new owner of the cinema.
For a long time it was the biggest cinema in East Germany.

Here had taking place since 1955 one of the oldest international film festival for documentary and animated film, now called DOK Leipzig.

From 1970 to 1993 there was also the smaller Capitol Studio Kino next to the main hall.

In the 90s the Capitol was converted into a 4-room house.

In 2004 and 2005 the Petershof was rebuilt. Apart from the facade to Petersstrasse, the atrium and the round staircase, all parts of the building were torn down and a department store was built into the building fragments.

Kino Vysočina in Žďár nad Sázavou/Czech Republic

Žďár nad Sázavou is a town in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has now approximately 21.000 inhabitants and is the administrative capital of the Žďár nad Sázavou District. The city is a prominent centre of tourism, situated on a major rail link between Prague and Brno.

The town gained prominence after 1945 when the communist government decided to build steel works in the city, called ŽĎAS. Within less than twenty years the Population grew from about 3.000 in 1950 to 15.000 in 1969.

New residential areas were also built with the necessary social buildings, including the cinema.

Kino Vysočina opened on 15 August 1963 with the screening of the wide-screen and colorful Slovak film Jánošík  and was one of the most modern cinemas in Czechoslovakia.
In 2011, the cinema underwent the aforementioned digitization, and in 2014 the cinema operation went under the administration of the town.