UT Connewitz

UT Connewitz opened on Christmas Day 1912 as the Cammer-Lichtspiele and took its present name, Union-Theater, in 1920. It is the oldest surviving cinema in Leipzig and, by its own careful account, one of the oldest preserved cinema auditoriums in Germany. The purpose-built hall on Wolfgang-Heinze-Straße has a reinforced concrete frame, a gallery, and a stage wall modelled as a pilastered portico; apart from the seating, the interior is still largely in its 1912 state, conserved rather than polished up. Where more than 600 seats once stood there are now far fewer. The cinema closed in 1992 and was pulled back from ruin by UT Connewitz e.V., founded in 2001 and largely volunteer-run. Film here is occasional, not daily: concerts and stage work share the room, and screenings lean toward repertory, silent films with live accompaniment, and the GEGENkino festival. Cash only at the door.

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