Those poor folks who move to Berlin in winter will invariably leave by March, convinced that everything they ever heard about the city was just hype. I moved here one year in late September, just in time to catch a glimpse of the fleeting beauty of summer in Berlin. Everything moves outdoors. Cafes, restaurants, biergärten. The city relaxes in the heat and humidity.

The pleasure of watching a film outdoors, though, is one most Berliners seem unable to get enough of. Practically every neighborhood, greenspace, and central courtyard erects a screen, sets up hundreds of deck chairs and opens a small bar. Best of all, bringing a picnic is encouraged!

Unfortunately, as in most cinemas in Germany, non-German films are typically dubbed into German. Call me a purist but I would rather watch Mongolian Ping Pong in Mongolian, than in German; film is art and if Almodóvar wanted to make a film in German, he would. This is, sadly, an argument lost on Germans. But there are always cinemas, even open air ones, that offer some content in original programming, often with German subtitles. The best one for this tends to be Freiluft Kino Kreuzberg in Kunstquartier Bethanien. Keep an eye out for the following abbreviations: dt.m.engl.Ut, German with English subtitles; engl.m.dt.Ut, English with German subtitles; OmU, original language with subtitles (probably German); or OV, original version (no subtitles).

Info about the cinemas in Volkspark Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg and Rehberge can be found here.

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Freiluft Kino Kreuzberg | Cinemas, Relaxing, Theaters | Ticket € 6.50
Mariannenplatz 2 | Kreuzberg
Box office opens 30 min before show begins

Despite the inexorable gentrification creep of Mitte and the laughably stupid rebranding of the area north of Torstrasse as NoTo (get it? NOrth of TOrstrasse!), it’s nice to see that some elements of 90s grunge and post-wall East Berlin squat culture manage to not only hang on but thrive in the neighborhood. We can still celebrate the Schokoladen (for a while yet) and the legendary Klub der polnischen Versager (that’s the Club of Polish Losers) on Ackerstrasse, though sadly the Ackerkeller, once underground home to Berlin’s underground homos, is homeless and seems content to sleep around and currently turns tricks at the King Kong Klub. 

Near the Torstrasse end of Bergstrasse, a bright red neon Z helpfully marks the Z-Bar, Mitte’s home of Kunst, Kultur and Kino. The Z-Bar was born out of an empty bakery in 1993 and today it serves up cocktails, a culture program – which features Berlins Schmusetiersoap (a truly bizarre episodic soap opera with cuddly cast-off, stuffed toys as actors), readings and a weekly variety show – and a truly off cinema program. Fans of bizarro cinema shouldn’t miss their selection from “the wild side of cinema” where you’ll find B-movie offerings from around the world. Whether you love home-made Japanese horror movies or budget slasher films or crappy sci-fi from the 1950s, Z-inema serves it all up with no judgment. 

Best of all, the Z-inema is also available to rent. So if you don’t like their lineup, rent out the cinema, invite your friends and throw your own party!

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Z-Bar | Bars, Cinemas | Cocktail from € 5.00
Bergstr. 2 | Mitte | +493028389121
19:00 – open end daily

“For me Berliner backyards are like surprises. You never know what’s waiting for you behind the gate.”

On one hand the way apartment buildings were built during the so called “Gründerzeit” (time around 1870-1914) produced the typical apartment blocks in Berlin, now known as “Altbauten” (old buildings) or “Mietskasernen” (tenements). On the other hand it gave Berlin those backyards everywhere.

In a particular area called “Scheunenviertel” (Barn Quarter) you can find a couple of very interesting “Hinterhöfe” where life seems to be hidden. Enjoy theatres, cinemas, galleries, museums, shops, cafes, bars, restaurants and other surprises there!

Except for “Hackesche Höfe“, now a tourist magnet and the most prominent complex of backyards, tourists and even Berliners don’t visit them. That is very unfortunate. And you will understand that if you go out to discover the following backyards: – Backyard of Haus Schwarzenberg (see the Haus Schwarzenberg article)- Heckmannhöfe (see the Heckmanhoefe article)- Hackesche Höfe: a complex of 8 backyards Rosenthaler Straße 40/41 & Sophienstraße 6- Kunsthof, contains very nice hospitality and quality galleries Oranienburger Strasse 27- Sophie-Gips-Höfe, contains the Hoffmann Collection (see the Hoffmann collection article) Sophienstraße 21- Rosenhöfe, Rosenthaler Strasse 36- Panasia/Gallerie Cicero, Rosenthaler Strasse 38

Also, I’d like to encourage you to keep your eyes open for many other backyards in this area and not to be shy to enter them. With a bit of luck you can find real jewels of cultural & night life in them!

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Berliner backyards | Art & culture, Bars, Cinemas, Coffee & tea, Shopping, Theaters, Restaurants
Different locations | Mitte
Various opening times

Kulturbrauerei is a complex of former brewery buildings (boiler house, machine house, stable, canteen,…) that are now host to the places we can find there now:Night clubs, cafes, bars, a cinema, theatres, an important concert house, a dance school, a billiard saloon, a cooking workshop, but also companies such as publishing houses, a bicycle hire shop (Berlin on Bike also offers guided tours on bikes) and many others.

Fans of old architecture will definitely enjoy Kulturbrauerei which is a wonderful example of the long period of historism. The 1889 complex has a bit in common with a castle from the middle ages. The renovation, completed in 2000, kept the old brewery air and hence made it one of the nicest cultural platforms in Prenzlauer Berg and surely in whole Berlin, too.

The website is user-friendly, in German and English and comes up with cool moving surround views. See here for the cultural program and opening times as well as the presentation of each venue.

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Kulturbrauerei | Art & culture, Bars, Cinemas, Music, Theaters
Knaackstraße 97 | Prenzlauer Berg
Daily

I challenge you to find a better cinema in Berlin when it comes down to variety and internationality. It never stops surprising me with what they come up and where the hell they get it from…

Starts off with dozens of annual film festivals and regular programmes they run over the year. Often several different ones at the same time. Most international movies are shown in original version and subtitled. Here a few examples:

- Cine En Español: Regular Monday movies in Spanish

- CinemAperitivo: Regular Sunday (16:00) Italian movies, with Italian aperitif afterwards

- New German Cinema: every Thursday

Special events can be seen on the website of the Babylon.

Sometimes the Babylon is also used for other events such as Readings, cabaret or concerts. Which is not really surprising: The huge main hall still keeps the air from 1929, when the cinema opened first. Furthermore, keeping its history in mind, they screen silent films with live piano music.

The two smaller showrooms in the back of the building are spots of movies only. And as I can confirm, they are really cosy. Gives you the feeling of non-mainstreamism, which I love.

Be aware that there are two Babylons in Berlin (both are cinemas!). Which is why both cinemas need to index themselves with the district: Mitte or Kreuzberg. This article deals with the one in Mitte.

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Babylon: Mitte | Cinemas | Normal admission € 6.50
Rosa-Luxemburg-Str. 30 | Mitte | +49302425969
Daily (times see website)

To find the cinema “Central”, you first have to point out Haus Schwarzenberg (see the Haus Schwartzenberg article). Go through to the end of the backyard and find the actual cinema on the right.

Their programme of movies makes this little cinema one of my favorites. It is nothing of the big commercial cinemas that (only) screen mainstream films from Hollywood. People on the search for interesting, independent and international films are right here. Usually they play films in their original language and have subtitles in English or German, respectively.

The chairs in the two show rooms are extremely comfortable; the Central’s website is really user-friendly and partly in English (sometimes descriptions of movies are not in English). So check the programme!

A movie that I can still (!) recommend is “Berlin Calling”. It runs successfully here for more than three years, letting the audience dive into the Berlin world of Techno. Paul Kalkbrenner, a famous Berliner DJ, plays the main character – a DJ who has to go for a withdrawal treatment after a drug overdose. Great & famous soundtrack included! Everyone with a taste for the Berliner Techno scene should watch this!

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Central | Cinemas | Regular Admission € 6.50
Rosenthaler Strasse 39 | Mitte | +493028599973
First movie ca. 15:00 – last movie ca. 23:30

One could say there are two cafes/bars, two shops, a gallery, a cinema, a museum…But that wouldn’t be enough to describe the importance of Haus Schwarzenberg. For getting a proper feeling of the cultural Berlin you have to go there.

Here is where Otto Weidt saved lives of deaf and blind Jewish workers from Holocaust in his broom and brush workshop. Find out more about this historical place in the “Museum Blindenwerkstatt Otto Weidt“.

The memorial “Stille Helden” honors and commemorates those people who, like Otto Weidt, risked their own lives to rescue prosecuted Jewish people from assured death.

Go further through to the second backyard. Here’s the lovely cinema “Central” (see this article). Also, you have the café “Kaschemme” which is “turned” into a bar and renamed “Eschschloraque” at 20:00 (see the Eschschloraque article), a place with an alien-like decoration and really friendly staff.

Above the “Eschschloraque” is the “Neurotitan” – an extremely unique shop and gallery that sells, supports and exhibits all kinds of works of local artists, be it paintings/drawings, CDs/records or t-shirts/tops, books or other stuff.

Other places in Haus Schwarzenberg that are also worth going to are the “Anne-Frank-Zentrum” – an exhibition about the life of the Jewish girl whose diary became so famous and the lovely “Café Cinema” (see the Café Cinema article).

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Haus Schwarzenberg | Art & culture, Bars, Cinemas, Coffee & tea, Music, Shopping
Rosenthaler Strasse 39 | Mitte
Daily

For years left as a dump, this former train depot has been converted into a unique place that is now of major importance for cultural life in the heart of district Friedrichshain: the area of the former “Reichsbahnausbesserungswerk”, or shortly, RAW.

A couple of cool clubs are situated here: Cassiopeia, RAW Tempel (both several styles), Szimpla Badehaus (live music), Astra Kulturhaus (concerts and parties) and M.I.K.Z. (Techno/Electro, Facebook), plus a few smaller ones.

RAW Tempel also hosts art exhibitions, readings as well as other cultural events. Szimpla Badehaus also screens movies.

The beer garden is nice during the warmer days, just as is the outdoor cinema”Freiluftkino Insel” (season Apr – Sep). The RAW flea market takes places here, too.

If you want to get active, there are three options: Number one is Skatehalle Berlin. Huge half pipes and rails challenge even advanced skaters and BMXers. It’s also nice to just hang out there and to watch pros and kids handling their boards. Number two is Kegel (“Cone”). It’s basically a former water tower but it is nowadays used for wall climbing and bouldering! Furthermore, there is a Taakwondo School.

Big parts of the area were painted by famous mural artist Christian Wahle a.k.a “Lake” who, simultaneously, runs the “Kegel”. Other street artists regularly renew the looks of the walls.

If you want to discover Berlin check out the area of the former RAW – I promise you won’t regret it. Before or after your visit adjacent Simon-Dach-Straße can be the next option during your evening.

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RAW Area | Art & culture, Bars, Cinemas, Music, Shopping
Revaler Str. 99 | Friedrichshain
24 hours daily

The Moviemento can be found on a street where you would most certainly not expect to find a cinema of this kind. It lives among Turkish supermarkets and Imbisses and its film poster covered entrance is surrounded by colorful vegetables six days a week. But regardless of its colorful location, I find their programming fantastic.

Most current films are shown in German but sometimes they also show original versions. Just make sure you keep a good watch on the program. In the evening they often have special classic cinema presentations, almost always original language. They also host small film festivals and often show activist oriented documentaries.

The inside of the cinema is well worth a look, and you can always have a quick drink while you check the program.

What I like most about this place is that they truly have a film-loving spirit. It is very often the favorite place for local independent filmmakers to show their films. And after applying for a job there when I first moved here, they replied saying that they didn’t have anything available but were happy to put me in touch with all the people they knew who worked in the film business here. And to this day, they still send me job postings from friends of theirs who are looking for crew members. Their good-natured concern for local cinema has been ever since a major selling point for me.

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Moviemento | Cinemas | Ticket from € 5.00
Kottbusser Damm 22 | Kreuzberg | +49306924785
Opening times vary according to showings

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