As part of the events, visitors will discover what local cinema life looked like a century ago. The event will open with a screening of the film »Anna Boleyn« at the Lichthaus-Kino in Weimar on Sunday 5. July 2020 at 8 pm.

As a result of thorough archival work, the Film and Media Studies programme in the Faculty of Media at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar has almost completely reconstructed the 1920 screening schedules for the two Weimar cinemas, »Scherffs Lichtspielhaus« and »Reform Licht-Spiele«. These recreations were based on 463 cinema advertisements in the »Weimarische Landeszeitung Deutschland« and included screening times and how often films were shown. 1920 was an incredibly important year for cinema since it was the year in which the Reichslichtspielgesetz (Cinema Act of the former German Empire) was passed. Establishing this legal framework meant that films were recognised as a mass medium. The subsequent scandals and acts of censorship that followed triggered public debate on the medium. The »Überreizung der Phantasie« is a nod to the legal text that the II Weimar Silent Film Retrospective is based on.

»From Italian heroic epics to early science fiction films« – the Weimar film scene was far more diverse than the typical canon of the most famous works suggests. Instead of classic blockbusters from major filmmakers, the project is screening previously unknown and therefore unexpected contributions for the II Silent Film Retrospective«, explains Dr Simon Frisch, Lecturer at the Faculty of Media. Music played live by internationally renowned musicians – including John Sweeney (Great Britain), Richard Siedhoff (Germany), Mykyta Sierov (Ukraine) and Günter A. Buchwald (Germany) – will accompany all of the films. In true historical practice, documentary newsreels from the Federal Archives complement the film contributions.

A number university member from various departments – including Dr Katrin Richter, Media Studies Specialist at the University Library – are working together to both professionally and organisationally to create the Silent Film Retrospective.

The off-programme kick-off will take place in the Lichthaus Kino on Sunday, 5. July 2020, at 8 pm with a screening of Ernst Lubitsch's historical drama »Anna Boleyn«. The special performance will be accompanied by the silent film pianists Richard Siedhoff and Gerrit Heber. The most expensive Ufa production of its time at 8.5 million Deutschmarks, did not premier in the film capital of Berlin in 1920, but instead in Weimar at the »Reform Licht-Spiele« at Marienstrasse 1, opened by photographer and film pioneer Louis Held.

Screening: »Anna Boleyn«
5. July 2020, from 8 pm 
Lichthaus Kino
Am Kirschberg 4, 99423, Weimar

Events: II Silent Film Retrospective »Überreizung der Phantasie«
2. to 10. September 2020
Tickets & programme: www.kunstfest-weimar.de
Organisers: Film and Media Studies under the Faculty of Media, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar University Library, Lichthaus Kino, Weimar City Archive and Kunstfest Weimar

Funded by the: Thuringian State Chancellery, Sparkassenstiftung Weimar-Weimarer Land, Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Hessen-Thüringen, City of Weimar, Weimarer Republik e.V. (funded by the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection), Bauhaus-Universität Weimar

Contact:

Dr Simon Frisch
Film and Media Studies
Faculty of Media of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
Tel.: +49 (0) 3643 / 58 37 37
E-mail: simon.frisch@uni-weimar.de

Dr Katrin Richter
University Library
Tel.: +49 (0) 3643 / 58 28 03
E-mail: katrin.richter@uni-weimar.de