Flicks at the Iron Curtain - Berlin Border Cinemas from 1950-1961

The film series, exhibition and website "Flicks at the Iron Curtain – Berlin Border Cinemas 1950–1961" reconstructs the story of the West Berlin border cinemas. Potsdamer Platz played an essential role in the creation of the border cinemas. American film officer Oscar Martay and Berlin cinema operator Friedrich Wilhelm Foss, who ran Camera, the only postwar cinema at Potsdamer Platz, initiated the scheme. The idea was to establish cinemas along the border between the sectors, offering discounted film screenings for East Berliners. The idea was to communicate the values of the "free world" at the height of the Cold War by means of Allied film productions. The films shown at the around 30 border cinemas were received enthusiastically by the inhabitants of East Berlin. There were often heated discussions about the quality of the films being shown there however, with westerns and crime thrillers often receiving particular criticism due to their appeal for young audiences. The film series explores different aspects of the border cinemas.