Would you like to watch blockbusters, cartoons or silent movies for free? You can in the Faculty of Engineering’s lecture hall cinema. Jan and Rajesh from the lecture hall cinema team take us behind the scenes.
When lecture hall 7 at the Faculty of Engineering is still full to the brim at 8.15pm with students and staff eagerly staring at the screen and enjoying the professional sound system, it’s time for the Faculty of Engineering’s Lecture Hall Cinema. A small team of FAU students and staff put on screenings several times a semester.
Faculty of Engineering Lecture Hall Cinema
“Going to the lecture hall cinema is just like the proper blockbuster movie experience. People hold their breath at the same time, cheer at the same time, gasp at the same time. That’s the beauty of it”, explains Rajesh from the team. He joined the group in 2023 after watching a screening of Superbad. “The movie is very funny and I met the organizers straight after the screening. I love the cinema and that’s why I wanted to get involved and see how the screenings are organized and which genres we can show.” Fellow organizer Jan is also a cinema enthusiast. “I was a huge lecture hall cinema fan in my first semesters here and went to every screening. When a new group was set up after the pandemic, I really wanted to help out.”
The club, students and staff all pitch in
The lecture hall cinema is open to all members of FAU, for students and staff alike. This is evident in the team itself. Rajesh and Jan are both involved in the Department of Electrical Engineering, but in different roles. Rajesh is completing his doctoral degree there and Jan is a student and is also involved in the Faculty of Engineering’s Student Committee. Around six or seven people help out with the lecture hall cinema.
The team also receives support from a club called Fachschaft der Technischen Fakultät Erlangen e.V.. It was founded in 2007 and provides the projector and sound system as well as the necessary licenses. This means the lecture hall cinema does not need external partners, memberships or entry fees. The club and the cinema are a long-standing constant of student life at the Faculty of Engineering. Jan isn’t sure how long the cinema has been running for, but one thing is for sure: “It must be decades.” The screenings were only canceled because of Covid.
The audience decides – by shouting
Preparations for the lecture hall cinema start in the semester break. “We meet up, discuss what needs to be done and plan the screenings for the next semester. We decide who will make posters, who will set up and tidy up before and after the screenings and who will buy the snacks and drinks.” The genres for the coming semester are also decided then. Some are set such as Christmas or Halloween movies, for all the other movies, the organizers try to offer a wide variety of different ones. In addition to comedy and blockbuster movies, they screen international and unusual movies. “For example, we decided to choose silent movies as a category. We screened Nosferatu. That was something quite special. It’s something you wouldn’t usually watch during the evening on Netflix,” explains Jan.
The audience is involved in choosing the genres and the movies themselves. The audience can submit suggestions in the StudOn course of the Faculty of Engineering lecture hall cinema and the organizers then shortlist three movies per genre based on these suggestions. The final decision is made during the screenings themselves. The people in the audience decide which movie is going to be screened next using their voices – votes are cast by calling out and the movie with the loudest vote is shown at the next screening.
First study and work, then leisure
For Jan and Rajesh, the cinema is the perfect place to meet friends and unwind. Rajesh says: “When students are finished with uni at around 6 or 7pm, they have some free time and want to relax and watch something fun.” Sometimes, students come to the cinema spontaneously. Rajesh remembers the Halloween screening a year ago particularly well. “There was a Halloween quiz before the screening. Everyone was in costume and when the quiz finished, they all got up and left. They saw the posters for our movie screening and decided to stay. We had a great screening and everyone was in costume – it was great.”
The lecture hall cinema has become a real community. “The first time I went to the screenings, it was somewhere I could meet up with friends outside of lectures and tutorials,” says Jan. For doctoral candidate Rajesh, the lecture hall cinema is a good opportunity to meet new people. “I work full time at the university and I mostly work alone at my desk or I’m in the lab. At the lecture hall cinema, I can get to know people via movies.” Rajesh goes to watch movies two or three times every month anyway which enables him to meet people in a special way. “Sometimes I get chatting to like-minded people and sometimes we have a different opinion. This allows me to get to know some movies from a different perspective that I wouldn’t have known otherwise.” These perspectives and ideas within the team are also included in planning. “We try and bundle our ideas together so that our audience can watch some great movies and so everyone can have a great time with their friends.” The organizers also ask the audience for their feedback so they can improve the lecture hall cinema. After each screening, the team discusses how it went and how they could improve the selection of movies, technical setup and atmosphere for the audience.
Helping hands wanted
The organizers are always looking for help with planning and running the cinema. “You get to learn a lot about the technology behind the scenes, such as the sound system. Of course, you can also help us to choose the movies,” says Jan.
On Wednesday, December 10, 2025, you can come and take a look at what the cinema team does and watch the movie afterwards. At 8pm, the lecture hall cinema club will be showing “Die Hard” and anyone who would like to help with setting up beforehand is welcome to come to the FSV Tech office at 7.30pm.
To never miss a movie again and help decide which ones are shown, sign up for the StudOn course: fsv.tf/kino
What about the other faculties?
The Faculty of Medicine also has a lecture hall cinema. “The way we organize everything is quite informal, but we still provide a great evening out for students,” says Mirjam from the organizing team. The team also puts on special events between the regular movie screenings. The first screening of the semester is for first-year students, for example. Mirjam explains: “This is a great way for first-year students to make new friends and it has become a kind of unmissable event for them.” She took part as a first-year student herself and later joined the organizing team. “I loved the atmosphere of the lecture hall cinema and, as part of the organizing team, I can share my enthusiasm for movies with others.”The weekly screenings of the lecture hall cinema are free of charge and open to all members of FAU. They begin every Thursday at 8pm in the lecture hall in Östliche Stadtmauerstrasse in Erlangen. The next movie to be shown will be The Nightmare Before Christmas on December 4. Information about other screenings and any changes at short notice are announced on the following Instagram account: hoersaalkino_erl_medizin.