A Film Projector
Creating Community through Films

• Text zum Nachlesen

  The Film Projector about Itself

  I am a film projector, a Bauer P5, for 16mm film. There was a time when I was highly regarded, back in the early 1960s when I was still new. However, I envy the advancements of today, including the modern televisions. Although, back then, we managed to achieve quite a lot, and perhaps even better in some respects – especially when it came to bringing people together.

  I remember vividly how the room would slowly fill up – I, already in position, loaded with the first reel, waiting for the lights to dim. It was in the heart of Siegen. Not in a cinema, as I was too small for that – but in the „Spanish Center“. Most of the time, I showed Spanish-language films for people whose native language was Spanish. And I often played German language learning films too, as there were also German lessons, and I soon became very familiar with those. One was called „Guten Tag“. And another, „Viel Glück in Deutschland“.

  I‘m not sure what was better: When everyone sat there transfixed, with only the sound of my whirring to be heard... or when the final reel ended and everyone turned back to each other.

  Either way, I belonged to a community there. Yes, and I even contributed to making people feel like a community. I think people knew that too – because even though different devices are in demand today, I was kept there for a long time before finally coming to this museum.

  Zusatzinfos

  The Spanish Center was established in the 1960s by the archdiocesan vicariate and built on the premises of the parish community of St. Michael, using public and church funds – for people who had come to Siegen from Spain as part of the recruitment agreements between the Federal Republic of Germany and Spain. In addition to social and religious support, leisure activities were also organized there, including Spanish-language film nights, and German courses. The film projector was regularly used for these events.

  ‚Our Siegen‘ (‚Unser Siegen‘) to the Film Projector

  I am a video portal. I am nowhere and everywhere at the same time – I am simply where I am accessible, via the internet. In this regard, dear projector, I am very different from you. I would really like to know what it‘s like to be so heavy and metallic, and above all, so physically present, wherever people are...

  But we both have something in common: We enable people to watch movies, perhaps not of the same genre, but still. I am a collection of videos, mainly interviews, of people from Siegen talking about Siegen. And anyone who wants to can watch it, listen, and connect, basically anytime and anywhere. So even if people are not all in the same room at the same time as they were with you back then, they are doing something communal through me: they are looking together at the region and the city and perhaps experiencing themselves as part of it.

  The fact that the focus in your case back then was more on Spain or other Spanish-speaking countries was, of course, also because most people assumed they were only in Siegen for a short time. And for many, that was indeed the case. But many also stayed here. By the way, the man who used to teach the German courses with your help, Alfonso, I know him too, from my videos.

  Do you know that feeling when movies create a sense of community?
  Or when they even promote identity?