Industrial Film Ruhr 2026 – Visits to the Ruhr Area
November 8, 2026 | 14 PM – 19 PM | Filmstudio Glückauf | Essen
This year's IndustrieFilm Ruhr program is themed "Visit" and explores how the Ruhr region has been staged, presented, viewed, and perceived since the early 20th century. Industrial plants and production facilities appear as stages for political, economic, and social representation.
The films shown span a wide range of time and themes, demonstrating the role that visits, honored guests, and external observers played in the region's self-perception and how it was perceived by others. The spectrum ranges from early monarchical visits—such as those by Kaiser Wilhelm II or King Ludwig III of Bavaria—to politically charged major events and international state visits and guest visits in the post-war period. The Ruhr region thus becomes a place of representation, reconstruction, openness, and diplomatic understanding. The motto of this year's retrospective is exemplified in the film "Visit to the Ruhr Region." It contrasts the prejudiced view of a visitor from outside the region on the dirty "coal mining area" with the perspective of a miner who has made the Ruhr region his home.
It is a long-standing tradition at IndustrieFilm Ruhr not only to screen films but also to discuss them afterwards. We look forward to engaging in dialogue with you and to a lively exchange about industrial, film, and contemporary history.
Astrid Dörnemann, Felix Hartelt, Stefan Przigoda
for the organizers and participating archives
Photo: “Weaponsmiths Bochum Association”, 1939/41, Krupp Historical Archives
8 November 2026
14 am - 19 pm
Filmstudio Glückauf
Rüttenscheider Straße 2
45128 Essen
Tel. 0201 43 93 66 33 (daily from 3:30 pm)
Email: info@essener-filmkunsttheater.de
Ticket information to follow
PROGRAM
Krupp Historical Archive
Pioneers of German Technology
The film from 1935 shows the visits of Kaiser Wilhelm II to the funeral of Friedrich Alfred Krupp (1854–1902) and King Ludwig III of Bavaria to the cast steel factory (1902/1915). The short film excerpts combine two historically significant monarchical visits, which are closely linked to the history of the Krupp company as well as to the political and social development of the German Empire and the First World War.
Krupp Historical Archive
Launch of the cruiser "Prince Eugene"
The 1939 silent film produced by the Reich Film Office for Educational Films documents the launching of the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen on August 22, 1938. It shows the complete launching process, including the preparatory work in which shipyard workers remove the support blocks and release the hull on the slipway. The christening ceremony is also shown, attended by Adolf Hitler and the Hungarian Regent Miklós Horthy; the ship is christened by his wife, Magdolna Horthy. Other high-ranking representatives of the Nazi regime are also present.
thyssenkrupp Corporate Archives
A glimpse into the world
At the 1956 annual general meeting of August Thyssen-Hütte AG, held at the Europa-Palast in Duisburg, film played a central role. Shareholders were presented with a compilation of six episodes of the newsreel "Blick in die Welt" (A Look at the World), which documented the reconstruction of the steelworks between 1951 and 1955. The film reports also portrayed the August Thyssen steelworks as a site of state representation and international attention – featuring appearances by German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, Crown Prince Akihito of Japan, and major shareholder Amélie Thyssen.
Krupp Historical Archive
Visit of the Thai King Bhumibol to Bochum and Essen
The 1960 film focuses on the Krupp family, portraying them as part of state and semi-official visitor programs in the post-war period. The film's focus is not on production, but rather on Villa Hügel and the company as stages of social and industrial power. The family members appear as "industrial kings" who effectively present their empire of technology, production, and social order.
thyssenkrupp Corporate Archives
Not a day like any other
On September 6, 1962, French President Charles de Gaulle (1890–1970) visited the August Thyssen steelworks in Duisburg-Hamborn as part of his official visit to Germany. The visit became an internationally recognized symbol of Franco-German understanding and an extraordinary moment in the company's history, which is captured on film in the movie with the working title "No Day Like Any Other".
Salzgitter AG Group Archive / Mannesmann Archive
Corporate Profile
“What is a corporation?” Peter von Zahn (1913-2001) answers this rather theoretical and boring-sounding economic question in the 1966 film “Profile of a Corporation” using Mannesmann as an example in his own unique way – vividly, informatively and entertainingly.
German Mining Museum Bochum | Mining History Documentation Centre (montan.dok)
Visit to the Ruhr area
"Visit to the Ruhr Area" is a typical, yet also exceptional, industrial and recruitment film about the Ruhr coal mining industry from 1957, produced just before the onset of the coal crisis that brought the post-war boom in hard coal mining to an end. The film plays with contemporary perceptions of the Ruhr area, contrasting the prejudiced views of a visitor from outside the region on the dirty and noisy "coal heartland" and the dangerous and arduous work of the mines with the positive perspective of a miner who had made the Ruhr area his home.
The organizers:
Krupp Historical Archive | Mining History Documentation Center (montan.dok) | German Mining Museum Bochum
thyssenkrupp Corporate Archives, Duisburg | Salzgitter AG Group Archive / Mannesmann Archive | Ruhr Regional Association
The venue:
Filmstudio Glückauf
Rüttenscheider Straße 2
45128 Essen
Tel. 0201 43 93 66 33 (daily from 3:30 pm)
Email: info@essener-filmkunsttheater.de