SILENT MOVIE WEEK REGENSBURG!

The Regensburg Silent Film Week will start again for the 42nd time on August 13, 2024. An absolute must for all those who still appreciate analog film experiences and running projectors!
The Regensburg Silent Film Week, a project of the Arbeitskreis Film Regensburg e.V., has been running since 1982. The oldest silent film festival in Germany is a very special experience, as it not only features films, but also live music to atmospherically accompany the films. These “film concerts” transport the audience to a bygone era and at the same time completely revive the old and forgotten films. The music adapts to the respective film each time.

Traditionally, the organizers of the Regensburg Silent Film Week show a program that combines well-known masterpieces of early cinema with unknown film gems.
The screenings take place in the beautiful arcade courtyard of the Thon-Dittmer-Palais when the weather is fine, and in the Leerer Beutel when the weather is bad. Three of the six screenings this year are works that have never been shown at the Silent Film Week before. The most successful duo in film history will kick things off on August 13: Laurel & Hardy.

Thon-Dittmer-Palais Arkadenhof: Stefan Effenhauser

Right at the start on August 13, there will be fireworks with four short films by the most successful duo in film history, Laurel & Hardy. They have been together since 1927, and one of the films is an early solo by Stan. Their breathtaking timing is legendary – just like that of Regensburg multi-instrumentalist Bertl Wenzl. A milestone in horror cinema is The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, also known for its painted, distorted backdrops. The showman Caligari with his sleeping medium Cesare can be experienced on August 14 at the Silent Film Week, performed by Rainer J. Hofmann with piano and electronics. Pianist Vsevolod Pozdejev will take us to the South Seas with Tabu on August 15. The melodrama by F.W. Murnau gives us almost documentary-like insights. Civilization is advancing, old customs are still strong and the love of a young couple is endangered by a taboo.

A rediscovery is the recently restored Melo Großstadtschmetterling, the story of the Chinese dancer Mah, who enchants Paris as “Princess Butterfly” and is nevertheless excluded from society. The Aljoscha Zimmermann Ensemble (piano and violin) will bring this delicacy to Regensburg for the first time on August 16. The horror classic The Man Who Laughs has also been freshly reconstructed, making it available again after a long time and bringing it to the Silent Film Week. Virtually everyone knows Gwynplaine’s terrible grin – as the “Joker” in the Batman films, it is part of pop culture. The grimace became iconic thanks to Conrad Veidt’s intense portrayal. Martin Rohrmeier on the piano gives the tragic story a face (August 17). This performance takes place in cooperation with Wicked Vision – they have recently been able to restore the German version in unabridged form at great expense, so that it can now be shown again. The final screening on August 18 will be The Last Man. Despite its title, this film is a pioneering work – cameraman Karl Freund frees his camera from the tripod, “unleashes” the camera and follows the head porter of a luxury hotel through his days, accompanied by the Aljoscha Zimmermann ensemble.

The program from 13 to 18 August 2024:

Tuesday, August 13, 2024 Laurel & Hardy: Short films
4 films, USA 1925-1929, German subtitles, DVD & HD
Live music: Bertl Wenzl (multi-instrumentalist)

Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy: they are the most successful duo in film history. Initially on the road separately – we show a “solo” film by Stan in the programme – and part of a motley comedy troupe, a director recognized the chemistry between them in 1927… Their short films had only one hook, the rest of the plot emerged from the dynamics of the characters during filming. The timing was precisely planned – and still works today!

Wednesday, August 14, 2024 The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Robert Wiene, D 1919, German subtitles, 35mm
Live music: Rainer J. Hofmann (Piano + Electronics)

… is a milestone in horror cinema. Director Wiene places his characters in an expressionist world: Dr. Caligari and his medium Cesare, a sleeping man whom he exhibits at fairgrounds. The two are apparently connected to murders in the town. As “Der Kinematograph” wrote in 1920: “The world paints itself differently in the mind of a madman” – so all the backdrops are distorted, sketched with a rough brush and bear “the character of unreality” (p. König).

Thursday, August 15, 2024 Taboo
Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, USA 1931, German subtitles, 35mm
Live music: Vsevolod Pozdejev (piano)

… is the last film by F.W. Murnau, shot without studio constraints on Tahiti and Bora-Bora. The tranquil nature shots and local non-professional actors make Melo almost a documentary. Civilization is already encroaching on the South Sea paradise, but the old customs are still strong. One girl is destined to become a priestess and is taboo. Despite this ban, a love develops between her and a young fisherman.

Friday, August 16, 2024 Big city butterfly. Ballad of a love
Richard Eichberg, D/GB 1929, German subtitles, BluRay
Live music: Aljoscha Zimmermann Ensemble: Sabrina Zimmermann (violin) – Mark Pogolski (piano)

The Chinese dancer Mah enchants Paris as “Princess Butterfly” with her exotic beauty, but is trapped and simultaneously ostracized by society precisely because of her looks. Eichberg’s film captivates not only with its poignant topicality, but also with virtuoso moments in which the camera seems to take the freedom that Mah is denied.

Saturday, August 17, 2024 The man who laughs
Paul Leni, USA 1928, German subtitles, freshly reconstructed German, BluRay version
Live music: Martin Rohrmeier (piano)

Virtually everyone knows Gwynplaine’s terrible grin – as the “Joker” in the Batman films as part of pop culture. The grimace became iconic thanks to Conrad Veidt’s intense portrayal in this film adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel – he is the adult version of the boy who is cruelly disfigured with a knife in revenge on his father in the 17th century. == in cooperation with Wicked Vision ==

Sunday, August 18 The Last Man
Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, D 1924, no subtitles, 35mm
Live music: Aljoscha Zimmermann Ensemble: Sabrina Zimmermann (violin) – Mark Pogolski (piano)

In addition to “Nosferatu”, Murnau created other groundbreaking films. Here, every shot is perfect, every scene drives the plot forward, he needs no intertitles. His work marks the beginning of a new cinematic aesthetic: the cameraman frees his box from the tripod, the “unleashed camera”. It captures the heavy but agile Emil Jannings as the head porter through the revolving doors of the posh hotel, accompanies his fall to the toilet man, flies after him across the backyard to his home.

Early cinema is alive! 40 years of silent film week in Regensburg. A documentary

Location: Columned hall of the Thon-Dittmer-Palais, admission free, film runs in a continuous loop
D 2021/2022, Gabrielle Pinkert, approx. 45 minutes, every evening from 19:00 to 20:30

Begins at 8.30 pm / Admission 7.30 pm
Tickets at www.stummfilmwoche.de

Advance ticket sales: via www.stummfilmwoche.de or at the box office Filmgalerie im Leeren Beutel (at screening times, without advance booking fee).
14 euros regular, 12 euros reduced.

If the weather is fine, there are still plenty of tickets available at the box office.
Venue: Arkadenhof of the Thon-Dittmer-Palais (Haidplatz 8), in case of rain in the Leerer Beutel (Bertoldstraße 9)

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