Restored film ‘Metropolis’ to be shown at Berlinale

BERLIN - Fritz Lang’s original cut of “Metropolis” from 1927 will return to the screen at the 60th Berlin International Festival in 2010, organisers said Thursday.

The classic silent film - reconstructed and restored by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau Foundation - will be shown Feb 12, 83 years after the original version had its world premiere.

Based on the original score by Gottfried Huppertz, the screening will be accompanied by the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of conductor Frank Strobel.

For decades, crucial scenes from the film - whose restoration in 2001 led to it being the first film recognised as belonging to the UNESCO World Documentary Heritage - were considered lost.

The discovery of a 16-mm negative in Buenos Aires in 2008 meant that “Metropolis” can now be shown in its almost completely restored, more-than-30-minute longer version than one shown in cinemas to date.

“Just about no other German film has inspired and influenced film history as greatly as Fritz Lang’s ‘Metropolis’,” said Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick.

“We are especially pleased and honoured to be able to present the reconstructed original cut of this legendary and seminal film classic at the festival’s 60th anniversary.”

The science fiction movie is set in a futuristic city called Metropolis where the ruling class enjoy themselves day and night and are served by workers who have numbers instead of names.

The Berlin Film Festival runs from Feb 11-21, 2010.