The UFA Film Nights Bertelsmann and UFA presents. August 22 to 24, 2018 In the Kolonnadenhof on Museum Island.

Transcription

1 Bertelsmann and UFA presents The UFA Film Nights August 22 to 24, 2018 In the Kolonnadenhof on Museum Island Presented by

2 The UFA Film Nights Table of contents Introduction 3 Schedule 4 The Movies Der Geiger von Florenz The Fiddler of Florence (1925/1926) 5 Sumurun (1920) 6 Die Apachen von Paris Apaches of Paris (1927) 7 The Musicians 8 The Venue 11 About UFA 12 About Bertelsmann 13 Press Enquiries 14 Partners 15

3 The UFA Film Nights Introduction Bertelsmann and UFA present the UFA Film Nights in Berlin for the eighth time from August 22 to 24, 2018: on three evenings, early masterpieces of cinema history will be screened under the stars, against a spectacular backdrop and accompanied by live music. The UFA Film Nights have become a cinematic-musical highlight of Berlin s cultural summer with a dedicated stage orchestra and big screen erected for the occasion in the Kolonnadenhof (Colonnade Courtyard) on Museum Island, a World Cultural Heritage site. Bertelsmann and UFA thus continue their tradition of presenting outstanding feats of cinematography in a historic architectural setting. This year, nearly 1,000 guests are expected for each of the evenings. Following a reception at Bertelsmann Unter den Linden 1, Berlin, the UFA Film Nights open on Wednesday, August 22 with a world premiere. On show is Paul Czinner s The Fiddler of Florence, a romantic adventure about a young woman who disguises herself as a man and travels to Italy, where she models for a painter. The film, which was produced almost a hundred years ago by the then Ufa and until recently was only available in an abridged version, was digitally restored by the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation in recent months with financial support from Bertelsmann. A complete version will now be presented to the public, for the first time in all its newly restored splendor. At the world premiere, the I solisti di Francoforte ensemble will play a newly composed score by Uwe Dierksen, commissioned by ZDF/ARTE. ARTE will broadcast the restored silent film with new music on September 24, This is followed on Thursday by Ernst Lubitsch s oriental fairy-tale Sumurun starring the great Pola Negri in the title role of a seductive dancer who turns the heads of a sheikh and his son alike. The music for the film is played by the Ensemble Trioglyzerin using Western as well as Oriental instruments. On Friday evening, Nikolai Malikoff s Apaches of Paris is on the program, in which American puritans on a moralizing mission in the entertainment districts of Paris find themselves exposed to all kinds of temptations. The music is provided by the internationally renowned Dutch composer and pianist Maud Nelissen and her band The Sprockets, also with a new composition in the style of the 1920s. All three films will once again be introduced by prominent film patrons. The UFA Film Nights hosted by Bertelsmann und UFA are internationally popular as well. Much to the delight of cineastes, several UFA Film Nights have already been held in Brussels, Madrid, Paris and New York.

4 The UFA Film Nights Program 8/22 Wednesday, August 22, 2018, Doors open: 8:30 p.m., Screening starts: 9:00 p.m. Der Geiger von Florenz The Fiddler of Florence (1925/26), Director: Paul Czinner. With Elisabeth Bergner, Conrad Veidt, Nora Gregor, Grete Mosheim Production: Ufa, Length: approx. 90 min. Music: New composition by Uwe Dierksen, commissioned by ZDF/ARTE. The I solisti di Francoforte ensemble will perform the musical accompaniment. 8/23 Thursday, August 23, 2018, Doors open: 8:30 p.m., Screening starts: 9:00 p.m. Sumurun (1920), Director: Ernst Lubitsch. With Pola Negri, Jenny Hasselqvist, Paul Wegener, Harry Liedtke, Ernst Lubitsch Production: Pagu (Ufa), Length: 103 min. Music: New composition by Trioglyzerin 8/24 Friday, August 24, 2018, Doors open: 8:30 p.m. Screening starts: 9:00 p.m. Die Apachen von Paris Apaches of Paris (1927), Director: Nikolai Malikoff. With Jaque Catelain, Lia Eibenschütz, Olga Limburg Production: Alliance Cinématografique (for Ufa), Length: 108 min. Music: New composition by Maud Nelissen. Performed by: Maud Nelissen & The Sprockets Tickets for the UFA Film Nights are now available for 15 EUR including advance booking charge: Online oder Or by calling (0.20 /call from German landlines / max / call from German mobiles)

5 The UFA Film Nights The movies 8/22 Der Geiger von Florenz The Fiddler of Florence (1925/26) Director Paul Czinner Production Erich Pommer (for Ufa) Screenplay Paul Czinner Cinematography Otto Kanturek, Adolf Schlasy, Arpad Viragh Cast Elisabeth Bergner, Conrad Veidt, Nora Gregor, Grete Mosheim Length approx. 90 min As deeply as Renée (Elisabeth Bergner) loves her father, she and her stepmother cannot stand each other. At the latter s instigation, Renée ends up being sent away to a strict Swiss boarding school. She s even made to spend the holidays there as punishment for her bad behavior. Disguised in men s clothing, Renée flees to Italy, where she manages to earn a little money as a street musician. A well-known painter discovers the boy and paints his portrait for a new painting entitled The Fiddler of Florence. The work becomes a huge success. On a photograph of the painting, Renée s father recognizes his daughter, whom he had thought to be lost. He travels to Florence to retrieve Renée. But the painter no longer wants to part with his companion, and is delighted when he turns out to be a girl who has long since fallen in love with him... Elisabeth Bergner ( ) is regarded as one of the most important actresses of the 20 th century. After triumphant stage successes in Berlin in the early 1920s, she began working for the cinema and acted in a series of films directed by her later husband Paul Czinner, in which she repeatedly played male roles, to which Bergner s androgynous looks leant themselves well. Because of their Jewish origins, Bergner and Czinner emigrated to England in 1933, and were able to continue their careers there. Music The I solisti di Francoforte ensemble performs music newly composed by Uwe Dierksen, commissioned by ZDF/ARTE.

6 The UFA Film Nights The movies 8/23 Sumurun (1920) Director Ernst Lubitsch Production Pagu (Ufa) Screenplay Hans Kräly & Ernst Lubitsch Cinematography Karl Freund Producer Erich Pommer Cast Pola Negri, Jenny Hasselqvist, Paul Wegener, Harry Liedtke, Ernst Lubitsch Length 103 min The harem lady Sumurun (Jenny Hasselqvist) is so beautiful that the old sheik (Paul Wegener) has declared her his favorite wife. Sumurun, however, loves the young cloth merchant Nur-al-Din (Harry Liedtke) and fears the jealousy of the old ruler. To make matters worse, the sheikh learns that his son (Carl Clewing) is also in love with Sumurun, and threatens to kill them both. One day Abdullah, a hunchbacked juggler (Ernst Lubitsch) comes into the harem with a seductive dancer (Pola Negri). She helps both the son and the father get over their renegade playmate, but lusts for power and money. In vain, the clown Abdullah courts her favor. When the sheikh surprises the dancer making love with his son, he strangles her and strikes down the son in fury. When he goes on to discover the young cloth merchant with Sumurun in the women s quarters, he wants to kill Nur-al-Din as well, and a dramatic showdown ensues. Ernst Lubitsch, a legendary director of Hollywood cinema classics, began his career as an actor at the Volksbühne in his native Berlin, where he directed short comedy films even before the outbreak of World War I. Lubitsch achieved his international breakthrough with the historical drama Madame Dubarry (1919). Sumurun was created in equally elaborate, this time exotic settings that were reproduced in the Ufa studios in Berlin-Tempelhof. The film whisks its viewers away into a world of Arabian Nights and shows Lubitsch as dramatist and in his final role as an actor, before he moved behind the camera for good, eventually becoming the inventor of sublime erotic comedies. Music Trioglyzerin with a new composition

7 The UFA Film Nights The movies 8/24 Die Apachen von Paris Apaches of Paris (1927) Director Nikolai Malikoff Production Alliance Cinématografique (Ufa) Screenplay Thea von Harbou, Fritz Lang Cinematography Karl Freund, Günther Rittau Cast Jaque Catelain, Lia Eibenschütz, Olga Limburg Length 108 min The American Non-Profit Society for the Reconstruction of Europe sends some of its leading members to Paris to teach decency and morals to petty criminals and other members of the demimonde (known as the Apaches of Paris ). Among the members of this moral mission are Miss Gertrud (Olga Limburg), the sister of the association s president, his beautiful daughter Winnie (Lia Eibenschütz), and the secretary of the society, John Rumple (Nikolai Malikoff). The group s most dangerous enemy is alcohol, which, unlike at home, flows abundantly here. The self-appointed moralists quickly succumb to the charms of alcohol, which is outlawed in the U.S. due to Prohibition, and to the other vices of Paris nightlife: Secretary Rumple can t get enough of a certain special fizzy water, and at the Moulin Rouge, Winnie meets the dashingly handsome Henri (Jaque Catelain), petty criminal who comes from a good family and has an eye on her jewelry. However, in the course of his efforts to purloin them, he falls in love with his victim. This causes him to quarrel with his jealous girlfriend and fall out with his gang, especially with his former buddy Bécot, who in turn has his eye on Winnie s jewels. A German-French co-production between Ufa and ACE shot at original locations in Paris, Nikolai Malikoff s lively comedy shows the picturesque milieu of the dives and dance bars around Montmartre. A comedy about culture clash, double standards, hypocrisy and their unmasking. Music Maud Nelissen (NL) and the ensemble The Sprockets

8 The UFA Film Nights The Musicians 8/22 Uwe Dierksen Uwe Dierksen studied trombone in Hanover, Hamburg and London, and conducting at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Since 1983, he has been trombonist in the Ensemble Modern (an ensemble of soloists for contemporary music) and has worked with renowned musicians, composers and conductors during this time. Numerous compositions have been written for him and were premiered by him. He has recorded over 20 CDs, roughly a third of them as a soloist. As an internationally performing soloist, he has played with the Austrian Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the West German Symphony Orchestra, the Arditti Quartet, the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra, the Dutch Radio Orchestra, the Lisbon Concert Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and many others. He is also frequently commissioned by ZDF, ARTE and the F.W. Murnau Foundation to write film music, including for the silent movies Der Turm des Schweigens (The Tower of Silence, 1924) by Dr. Johann Guter, Die Pest in Florenz (The Plague of Florence, 1919) by Otto Rippert, Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, 1920) by Robert Wiene, and the Asta Nielsen film Zapatas Bande (Zapata s Gang, 1914) by Urban Gad. He was artistic director and composer of the silent film revue evening Welcome to American Vaudeville in 2015 at the Komische Oper Berlin, and an evening under the same heading in February 2017 at the Oper Frankfurt. His radio play Irres Licht with Christian Brückner, Judith Rosmair and Franziska Junge, produced by SWR, was broadcast on SWR 2 in January 2014 and subsequently on hr and Deutschlandfunk, and performed as a live version at the literaturm Festival in Frankfurt in The ZDF/ARTE film department commissioned the music for The Fiddler of Florence. Since 1995, ARTE has hosted its Stummfilm-Rendezvous series showcasing classics and rarities of international cinematic history. All films are shown in their latest restorations, which provides significant support to film archives in their activities. Another focus is the reconstruction of original film scores from the silent film period. The ZDF/ARTE film department has had more than 15 original music scores restored and performed to date; these reconstructions including Der Rosenkavalier (Richard Strauss, 1926), October (Edmund Meisel, 1928) and Der Student von Prag (Josef Weiß, 1913) are an important contribution to the preservation of the film music culture of the early 20 th century.

9 The UFA Film Nights The Musicians 8/23 Trioglyzerin In 1992 the musicians Ulrich van der Schoor, Kristoff Becker and Tobias Becker joined forces under the name Trioglyzerin to set silent films to music live. They do not only want to revive the cinema atmosphere of that time. Rather, the joint use of traditional and electronic instruments is intended to create an effective connection between classic and modern. Trioglyzerin has made a name for herself through numerous appearances at home and abroad. The musicians many years of experience with a wide variety of music contributes to the fact that every single film has its own, appropriate musical illustration. The three musicians who make up Trioglyzerin already accompanied Fritz Lang s Spies at the 2012 UFA Film Nights, and their music was heard during Geheimnisse des Orients (Secrets of the Orient) at the 2013 UFA Film Nights. In 2015 they performed the musical accompaniment to Lotte Reiniger s Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed (The Adventures of Prince Achmed), and in 2016 Trioglyzerin and the Jazz- Combo of the Deutsche Oper Berlin opened the UFA Film Nights with their music for Die Bergkatze (The Wildcat). This year, Trioglyzerin will present their new composition of the score for Ernst Lubitsch s Sumurun.

10 The UFA Film Nights The Musicians 8/24 Maud Nelissen & The Sprockets Maud Nelissen is one of the most internationally renowned female silent film musicians of our time. After training as a classical concert pianist at the Utrecht Superior School of Music with Herman Uhlhorn and graduating with honors, she discovered her passion for silent film, and has since built a successful career on this. In addition to solo performances, Nelissen composes and arranges musical accompaniment for silent films for orchestra and vari- ous ensembles. Her most famous works include the music for King Vidor s silent film The Patsy (1925) with Marion Davies, and the music for Erich von Stroheim s The Merry Widow (1925) based on Franz Léhar s eponymous operetta. Maud Nelissen is the bandleader of the silent film ensemble The Sprockets, whose enthusiasm and virtuosity inspire silent film fans worldwide. In addition to her work with The Sprockets, Nelissen performs with other ensembles and orchestras such as the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, and the Cello8ctet Amsterdam. She made her U.S. debut at the 2008 Telluride Film Festival in Colorado, followed by a highly acclaimed appearance at the Turner Classic Movies Film Festival in Hollywood (2011). Nelissen has most recently appeared at prominent silent film festivals and venues including the Berlin International Film Festival, the Schauspielhaus Frankfurt/M., the Komische Oper Berlin, Theater an der Wien, Il Cinema Ritrovato Bologna, Filmpodium Zürich, Musée d Orsay Paris, the Midnight Sun Film Festival in Finland, the Silent Film Festival in San Francisco, and the Bangkok Silent Film Festival.

11 The UFA Film Nights About the venue Museum Island in the heart of Berlin attracts many visitors from all over the world. Here lies the cradle of today s Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, which display their outstanding collections spanning millennia of art and cultural history in Europe and the Mediterranean region, in this incomparable assembly of buildings. In 1999, UNESCO added Berlin s Museum Island to its list of World Heritage Sites, calling it a unique ensemble of museum buildings, which illustrates the evolution of modern museum design over more than a century. The beginnings of Berlin s Museum Island were closely linked to the early 19 th -century ideals of the Enlightenment and Humanist. Great architects such as Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Friedrich August Stüler played a key role in the architectural design of the Spreeinsel, which is also the historical starting point and the city center of Berlin. To this day, their masterpieces of Classicistic architecture give Museum Island its unmistakable appearance. With the opening of today s Altes Museum in 1830 under Friedrich Wilhelm IV, Museum Island Berlin began its development, into a sanctuary for art and science. The Neues Museum was the next to be built ( ), followed by the (Alte) Nationalgalerie ( ), the Bode-Museum (known as Kaiser Friedrich Museum from ), and the Pergamonmuseum ( ). The Kolonnadenhof forms the central courtyard of Museum Island, surrounded by the buildings of the Neues Museum, the Pergamonmuseum, the Alte Nationalgalerie and the Kolonnadengänge (colonnade corridors). The original design of the landscaping dates from The layout and motifs of the historical design have been taken up in the current version and gently modernized. This site, steeped in cultural history, has served as the perfect venue for the UFA Film Nights since 2014.

12 The UFA Film Nights About UFA In 2017, UFA celebrated its 100 th anniversary, which makes it one of the oldest entertainment brands in the world. Today s UFA is a powerful creator of entertainment content, and has steadily expanded its market leadership as a film and television producer in Germany over the years. Each day, UFA programs entertain and inspire millions of viewers. The company has evolved from a creator of programs and TV producer into a content specialist for every type of platform for all major broadcasters in Germany as well as for many other partners. UFA is the umbrella for all German production activities of FremantleMedia, which operates the worldwide production business of Bertelsmann-owned RTL Group The UFA FICTION, UFA SERIAL DRAMA and UFA SHOW & FACTUAL production units as well as the UFA LAB operate under the UFA umbrella. Their extensive product portfolio offers an unparalleled variety of complementary programs. The UFA LAB pools the group s digital activities. High-quality fiction productions such as TV movies, series, series and TV events are realized by UFA FICTION. UFA SHOW & FACTUAL produces journalistic formats, reality programs, and shows, as well as a wide range of variety and game shows, quizzes, panel shows, and dating, comedy and music shows. UFA SERIAL DRAMA is a leading supplier of industrial serial productions. Long-running program brands are at the heart of the product strategy for its/the group s core business, the production of TV content. With currently more than 20 serial program brands, the UFA has more long-running formats in the market than any other producer. While UFA sets and develops trends with its programs, it is also committed to time-honored ideas and traditions. Its impressive track record is evident in stellar ratings for miniseries, shows and long-running series such as SOKO München, SOKO Leipzig, GZSZ, Alles was zählt, Unter Uns, Ein starkes Team, Donna Leon, Wer weiß denn sowas and Sag die Wahrheit. Outstanding high-end drama series, event-scale TV movies, and feature films such as Generation War, Ku damm 56/59, Charité, Deutschland 83/86, Bornholmer Strasse, Nackt unter Wölfen, and Der Turm ; and box-office movies like Hanni & Nanni, Jesus liebt mich (Jesus Loves Me) and The Physician, as well as adaptations of internationally popular light entertainment and infotainment such as Deutschland sucht den Superstar (Germany s Got Talent) Das Supertalent, X Factor and Bauer sucht Frau (Farmer Wants A Wife). More information about UFA and its productions can be found at:

13 The UFA Film Nights About Bertelsmann Bertelsmann is a media, services and education company that operates in about 50 countries around the world. It includes the broadcaster RTL Group, the trade book publisher Penguin Random House, the magazine publisher Gruner + Jahr, the music company BMG, the service provider Arvato, the Bertelsmann Printing Group, the Bertelsmann Education Group and Bertelsmann Investments, an international network of funds. The company has 119,000 employees and generated revenues of 17.2 billion in the 2017 financial year. Bertelsmann stands for entrepreneurship and creativity. This combination promotes first-class media content and innovative service solutions that inspire customers around the world. As a creative content company and with strong references to its more than 180-year history, Bertelsmann s is culturally engaged on various levels as part of its Culture@ Bertelsmann activities. For instance, the Group is strongly dedicated to the preservation of important cultural assets with a focus on making the cultural heritage accessible, e.g. through digitization or exhibitions. As a main sponsor of the digital restoration of important silent films, the company also accompanies their performances worldwide. For instance, Bertelsmann hosts the UFA Film Nights not only in Berlin, but also at other locations where the Group has operations, such as Brussels, New York and Madrid, and supports the screening of silent films at festivals around the world. Bertelsmann also owns the Archivio Storico Ricordi in Milan, a music archive that contains a wealth of unique testimonies to Italian opera history. Bertelsmann is indexing the archival holdings to meet the latest standards and making the cultural treasures accessible for a wide audience. In this way, Bertelsmann combines its own publishing tradition with the requirements for handling our cultural heritage in the digital age. More information about Bertelsmann is available at: For more information about Bertelsmann Unter den Linden 1, please visit:

14 The UFA Film Nights Contact details Press agency SteinbrennerMüller Kommunikation Kristian Müller Linienstraße Berlin +49 (0) UFA GmbH Kirstin Krause Head of Marketing Dianastraße Potsdam +49 (0) Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA Dr. Helen Müller Head of Cultural Affairs and Corporate History Bertelsmann Unter den Linden Berlin +49 (0) helen.mueller@bertelsmann.de Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA Susanne Erdl Vice President Media Relations Corporate Communications Carl-Bertelsmann-Straße Gütersloh +49 (0) susanne.erdl@bertelsmann.de Curator of the series Friedemann Beyer Film Historian +49 (172) friedemann.beyer@web.de

15 The UFA Film Nights The UFA Film Nights are presented by UFA GmbH and Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA Partners Media partners