Special films are the trademark of the Capitol cinema in Königs Wusterhausen. The film that was made about the Capitol itself is also special. It is an homage to the long history of the house and at the same time an evocation that it has a future. “The Capitol won’t die either – if we don’t forget it,” says the main actor in the final scene, before turning around and leaving.
Visit of cinema founder Gustav Schulz
The main actor in the short film is Gustav Schulz, founder and owner of the Königs Wusterhausen cinema. He is played by cabaret artist Peter Bodenstein. He enters the cinema through a creaky door and tells the audience the long history of the house, which began when it opened in October 1930. It is dark, his face can only be made out vaguely. Gustav Schulz alias Peter Bodenstein is there for one of his midnight visits. Once a year he comes to his cinema to see what has become of it, he says.
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This was thought up by Claus Judeich from Königs Wusterhausen, retired cameraman, hobby filmmaker and passionate moviegoer. In the most recent Corona lockdown, he was impressed by the wave of solidarity for the cinema. The celebration for The 90th anniversary fell through in 2020, but the audience did not write off the Capitol, on the contrary. “I wanted to make a contribution myself,” says Claus Judeich. He was reminded of the big movie fundraiser he read and heard about in the early 2000s. After being closed for five years, it made it possible to reopen the Capitol in 2005. The film is of course a reminder of this, as well as the restart as a cultural cinema that shows high-quality films and is becoming a popular venue for artists.
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Queue outside the Capitol in July 2020 when it was briefly reopened after lockdown.
Dirty dancing in GDR times
An excerpt from “The luring goal” can be seen with which the Capitol opened in 193o. Performers re-enact the festive event and toast to each other, they cheer. You are dressed in a contemporary way. The mixture of documentary and drama also works wonderfully in the scene for the screening of the film Dirty Dancing in GDR times. Due to the lack of copies, the reels of film that were played were taken during the performance by S-Bahn from Königs Wusterhausen to Zeuthen and Eichwalde. Two actors do that.
Short shooting
“The shooting was done in no time,” says Claus Judeich. They only lasted an hour, and after a few days he had the material in the box. The entrance scene with the long shot of the train station and the pan to the cinema was filmed with a camera drone from a man from Wusterhausen Claus Judeich had asked him for help and got it without any problems.
