With the cultural-historical exhibition "Glückauf - Film ab!", the Ruhr Museum sheds light on the role of Ruhr area cinema in the world of film. The show focuses on over 100 years of development history. Visitors to the Zollverein World Heritage Site can see how cities such as Essen, Gelsenkirchen and Dortmund adapted to big business.
As early as the 1920s, large cinemas with over 1000 seats were built in the region. By the end of the 1950s, there were around 500 cinemas. Film festivals such as the International Short Film Festival in Oberhausen and the Duisburg Film Week emerged and established themselves. Actors and actresses such as Heinz Rühmann and Jürgen von Manger, who came from the region, made a name for themselves far beyond its borders.
The exhibition on the 12-meter level of the Ruhr Museum illustrates why the industry was able to gain such a good foothold in the coal-mining region. It is being organized to mark the 100th anniversary of Essen's "Filmstudio Glückauf", one of the oldest cinemas in North Rhine-Westphalia.
