A soft, purply glow in the sky; the heat of the day in your body. All around you, people licking ice creams, raising chilled bottles and spreading out blankets. Welcome to summer. Welcome to open-air cinema in Cologne.
Culture by the riverside: Naturstrom Open Air Kino
600 seats on the steps, a to-die-for view of the cathedral and a floating screen right in the middle of the Rhine: Naturstrom Open Air Kino (which used to be called Sion Sommerkino BAY) is the place to be if you’re into cinematic summer nights with an urban flair.
As well as being one of the nicest open-air cinemas in Cologne, Naturstrom Open Air Kino is also the largest. It shows a wide variety of classics, travel documentaries, arthouse films, action movies and comedies.
Quarter of an hour before the movie starts, there’s a pre-film performance featuring young musicians, comedians or slam poets. On some evenings, the Sommerkino also hosts literature, musical and theatre performances.
Times: Opens at 7pm, film starts around 10pm
Price: 11 euros
Address: Rheinauhafen, Harry-Blum-Platz 1, 50678 Cologne
Popcorn and beer: the open-air cinema at Cinenova in Ehrenfeld
Cinenova, the city’s largest arthouse cinema, is located in a former parcel depot in the multicultural, working-class district of Ehrenfeld. In the summer, they transform the beer garden into an open-air cinema, showing comedies, dramas, action movies and, of course, arthouse films. Many of the screenings are in the original language (with German subtitles).
A particular highlight is the SurfFilmNacht event featuring inspiring surfing and outdoor documentaries. This summer’s offering includes “The Road to Patagonia” on 15 July and “Women & the Wind” on 25 August. Another crowd-puller at Cinenova is that it broadcasts opera performances live by satellite from Paris and London.
A cool kölsch beer from the bar, some freshly made popcorn (salted or sweet) and the show can start! If you want to get a good seat, make sure you get there before 9pm. The staff will show you to your seat.
No showing if bad weather puts in an appearance? Not at Cinenova! If there’s a downpour or a storm, they show the film on an indoor screen so you can settle down to a good movie inside instead.
Times: Film starts around 10pm
Price: 9.50 euros
Address: Herbrandstraße 11, 50825 Cologne
Quirky charm: the open-air cinema at the Odonien beer garden
Bizarre steel sculptures, huge and rusty, are scattered across this huge space, floating above the ground or emerging from it. The “Free State of Odonien” is a fusion of art forms, conceived by Cologne sculptor Odo Rumpf.
Nestling between decommissioned rail tracks and an “eros centre”, the site serves as an outdoor studio, workshop, event venue, centre for cultural exchange and a place for free artistic development. In the summer, a wide range of movie lovers’ favourites and future cult films from the Film-Festival Cologne are shown in the creative, nonconformist beer garden.
The season starts on 30 July but there isn’t any information yet on times or ticket prices.
Address: Hornstraße 85, 50823 Cologne
Arty types: open-air screenings at the Museum of Applied Arts (MAKK)
The MAKK’s empty courtyard about to fill up with film enthusiasts and fill them with wanderlust. Photo: Kino Gesellschaft Köln
When the museum’s doors are long since closed and darkness begins to fall, a very special “movie theatre” opens in the historic courtyard of Cologne’s Museum of Applied Arts (MAKK). From 3 July, this atmospheric backdrop will provide the perfect setting for anyone who likes to enjoy culture in outdoor spaces.
MAKK shows films from around the world, including ones that are seldom screened. There are thought-provoking screen adaptations, profiles, documentaries and arthouse movies like “E.1027 – Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea”, a poetic architecture documentary. All films are shown in the original language with German subtitles.
There’s no need to worry about showers or storms either. If the weather takes a turn for the worse, the cinematic experience moves to the Filmpalette arthouse cinema. And there are films on at MAKK on the first Thursday of the other months too so, if you’re a fan of film both outdoors and in, you’ll find something to keep you entertained all year round.
Times: Box office opens at 8.30pm; film starts around 10pm
Price: 8 euros
Address: An der Rechtschule, 50667 Cologne
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