Hollywood meets NRW: Michael Meyer receives an honorary award for cinema culture!

Hollywood meets NRW: Michael Meyer receives an honorary award for cinema culture!

In North Rhine-Westphalia, this year's cinema program awards were celebrated yesterday evening in Cologne's Wolkenburg. Outstanding achievements by film theaters were honored with a total endowment of one million euros. Particularly in the spotlight was Michael Meyer, the operator of five cinemas in North Rhine-Westphalia, who was awarded an honorary prize of 25,000 euros for his life's work and his commitment to cinema culture. This reports The Spot Media.

In addition to the honor for Meyer, twelve film theaters were also awarded top prizes of 20,000 euros each. These awards crowned the efforts to keep the region's cinema culture alive and were widely recognized by guests, including actors and directors such as Malik Bauer and Rainer Bock. The solemn ceremony took place in cinema halls that breathed. In his speech, NRW Media Minister Nathanael Liminski emphasized the importance of the cinema program award for cultural life in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Winners and prizes

The list of winners includes notable institutions: The “Filmpalette Cologne” was awarded the best annual film program in 2024. In addition, five of the top prize winners received an additional children's and youth program bonus of 6,000 euros each. Here are the highlights:

• Bambi & Löwenherz Gütersloh (20.000 Euro, 6.000 Euro Kinder- und Jugendprämie)
• Lichtspiele Köln-Kalk (20.000 Euro, 6.000 Euro Kinder- und Jugendprämie)
• Cinema & Kurbelkiste Münster (20.000 Euro, 6.000 Euro Kinder- und Jugendprämie)
• Schloßtheater Münster (20.000 Euro, 6.000 Euro Kinder- und Jugendprämie)
• Kino in der Brotfabrik Bonn (20.000 Euro, 6.000 Euro Kinder- und Jugendprämie)
• ZOOM Kino Brühl (20.000 Euro, 3.000 Euro Kinder- und Jugendprämie)
• Bambi Filmstudio Düsseldorf (20.000 Euro, 3.000 Euro Kinder- und Jugendprämie)
• Kamera Bielefeld (20.000 Euro)
• Casablanca Bochum (20.000 Euro)
• Filmstudio Glückauf Essen (20.000 Euro)
• Filmpalette Köln (20.000 Euro)
• Filmhaus Köln (20.000 Euro)

A special honor went to the Filmforum Duisburg, while the Wuppertaler Talflimmern was honored with a “Special Open-Air Prize”.

Importance of cinema culture

Since the pandemic, we have all become aware of how important cinemas are as social meeting places for the community. 238 cinemas received the cinema program award for their outstanding programs. The awarding of the awards is the responsibility of an independent jury and this year the awards were the result of 301 applications. Minister of State for Culture Weimer emphasized that the strength of cinema culture is crucial for the German and European film scene.

The celebratory atmosphere and the awards show that cinema culture will continue to have a high status in North Rhine-Westphalia in the future.