Film Restored – The Film Heritage Festival

On gaps and omissions in archives and cinema

The shadow side of images shown on the cinema screen includes lacunae, invisibility and experiences of loss. The eighth edition of the Film Restored festival explores gaps in film history and material, as well as absence as a narrative and aesthetic device.

Raising the curtain on this year’s festival on 25 October is Rosa von Praunheim’s digitally restored ‘Anita – Dances of Vice’ (FRG 1987), which centres on the unconventional nude dancer of the 1920s, Anita Berber, and which rescues her from oblivion. Other highlights include restorations of lost films such as ‘The First Degree’ (USA 1923) and ‘Europa’ (PL 1931).

The festival also brings to light films that have received little recognition so far. For example, you can discover programmes by female directors from Armenia, Ireland and Spain as well as the Brazilian Super 8 Queer Wave of the 1980s. Absence and loss are recurring themes in cinematic narrative. Aspects of these universal subjects are highlighted in recent film restorations from different continents. These include the Indian film ‘Ishanou’ (1990) and the Moroccan film ‘Soleil de printemps’ (1969).

The festival programme will be accompanied by lectures and professional events. In tandem, a supporting programme for the presentation of the Association of German Cinematheques Prize will take place, focusing on absences from the screen: films believed to be lost and now rediscovered will be presented and a panel discussion will be dedicated to the topic of dwindling cinema audiences.

The Film Restored festival 2023 will take place from 25 to 29 October at the Filmhaus Berlin and online. Conference languages are German and English. 18 film programmes will be shown in their original version with English or German subtitles.

Film Restored is an event organized by the Deutsche Kinemathek and is supported by the Sunrise Foundation for Education and the Arts, Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film (FIAF) and Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art.

The Association of German Cinematheques Prize is an event organised by the Deutsche Kinemathek for the Association of German Cinematheques and is sponsored by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM).

Participation in the festival (film screenings, events and online services) is free of charge subject to prior accreditation. The number of passes is limited. You can send your accreditation request to registration_fr [at] deutsche-kinemathek.de (registration_fr[at]deutsche-kinemathek[dot]de) from 14 August to 13 October 2023.