Restored version of Soviet classic film to have premiere in Berlin
30th December 2004 – Between 12th and 13th of February at the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in Berlin, a restored edition of the film Battleship Potemkin will be shown for the first time with a live orchestral accompanyment of the the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg conducted by Helmut Imig.
At the time, the film pioneered editing techniques still used today in films from around the world, including American hollywood productions. Famed director Sergei Eisenstein revolutionised the cinematic art.
The film was shot for the 20th anniversary of the 1905 revolution and elevated the 27 year old Eisenstein into the ranks of world’s best directors. It took him and his crew only 3 months to make the masterpiece which used the music of Edmund Meisel for dramatic effect. The 1926 premiere in Germany propelled the film to worldwide success.
However heavy editing and Soviet censorship removed scenes and sections of the film. No complete print of the Russian premiere version has sadly survived.
Now 80 years after it’s initial screening and 100 years after the events it was inspired from, the film will be presented in a newly reconstructed edition as part of the Retrospective section of the 55th Berlin International Film Festival.
The new version will include the opening words of Leon Trotsky and Russian intertitles with the original graphics. The music of Meisel has also been revised by Helmut Imig and Lothar Prox.
The revision of the film was the based on an initiative by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes and is being managed by the Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek.
The official website for the 55th Berlin International Film Festival
Kulturstiftung des Bundes
