b-ware! Ladenkino

The b-ware! Ladenkino on Gaertnerstraße in Friedrichshain is cinema stripped to its irreducible minimum: a converted shopfront, a projector, and a handful of chairs facing a screen. The name — a play on the German word for seconds or surplus goods — signals a cheerful refusal of polish. Films are shown in what was once a retail space, and the transition from shop to cinema required little more than a change of intention. The programme is eclectic and personal, leaning toward independent and repertory work selected with evident affection. In Berlin's long tradition of improvised, grassroots screening venues, the b-ware! stands as a reminder that cinema needs no grand architecture, only a dark room, a beam of light and a willing audience.

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