By focussing on the topic of “70 mm - Bigger than Life”, the Retrospective of the 59th Berlin International Film Festival will devote itself to the powerful visuals of wide-gauge film. Twice as wide as standard 35-mm film, it is the adequate format for monumental works: screen epics, adventure and science fiction films, Westerns, musicals, as well as magnificent panoramas of nature and intimately beautiful close-ups. The high resolution, sharp picture and colour quality of these large-format images join forces with the tremendous excellence of the sound. During Hollywood’s financial crisis in the mid 1950s, 70-mm film was especially important as a technical innovation with which television could not compete. For wide-gauge film, with its visual and audio brilliance, is only able to come into its own in the cinema. The Berlinale Retrospective will concentrate on “real” 70-mm films that were originally shot on 65-mm or 70-mm negative film and then printed on 70-mm film for the screen. 

 

The Retrospective will present a total of 22 programmes from the USA, the Soviet Union and Europe. This includes classics like Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s Cleopatra (1961–63) in Todd-AO, David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia (1961/62) in Panavision Super 70 and William Wyler´s Ben Hur (1959) in Camera 65; but also new discoveries like the Soviet production Dnevnye zvozdy (The Stars of the Day), directed by Igor Talankin in 1966 and based on motifs from Olga Bergholz’s autobiographical book of the same name. The Retrospective will be presented at the Kino International and the Cinestar 8 at Potsdamer Platz. For these festival screenings, the Kino International will be specially fitted out with a combination of tried-and-tested projection technology and new digital equipment. Hence, this theatre, so steeped in tradition, will offer the optimum in visual and audio experience. On the large curved screen, new, elaborately restored 70-mm prints will radiate alongside precious unique prints from archives.  

Since 1977, the Berlin International Film Festival has been holding film-historical Retrospectives and Homages in co-operation with the Deutsche Kinemathek. The Retrospective is always dedicated to an important director or a theme in film history. The Retrospective is where classic movies are rediscovered, or long-forgotten films are given a second life. The programmes bring German and international films back to the big screen – often as a restored version or a new print. In the Retrospective, films are placed in their historical context.  

 

The Homage honours a great director, actor or actress presenting his or her lifework. The Homage of the 58th Berlin International Film Festival in 2008 was dedicated to the renowned Italian director Francesco Rosi. Rosi's films take a critical look at the political, economic and intellectual developments in Italy and he has helped shape 50 years of Italian film history. During the festival he has received an Honorary Golden Bear for Lifetime Achievement. Find more information on him and the showcase under Homage. 

 

Retrospective and Homage are organized by the Deutsche Kinemathek. It is given a free hand – in consultation with the festival management – in shaping the Retrospective.  

 

In 2006 there was a change-over at the head of the section: Director of many years Hans Helmut Prinzler retired and was replaced by Dr. Rainer Rother. Rother previously worked as director of the film programme at the German Historical Museum and already belonged to the selection committee of the Berlinale for several years. For the Berlinale, he curated Selling Democracy, a three-year series of Marshall Plan films. 

 

Every Retrospective has its own requirements. Various criteria need to be considered: significance in film history and originality; balancing difference and continuity to previous retrospectives; contemporary, maybe political relevance. The theme should appeal to a broad audience as well as to professional festival guests from both Germany and abroad. Is the theme worthy of research in the field of film history? Can it be meaningfully documented in the accompanying publications? What is the availability of copies? Who can be invited? What kind of parallel events can be organised?  

 

The Retrospective has honoured many influential directors: Billy Wilder (1980), Curtis Bernhardt (1982), Ernst Lubitsch (1984), Rouben Mamoulian (1987), Erich von Stroheim (1994), Buster Keaton (1995), William Wyler (1996), G.W. Pabst (1997), Robert and Curt Siodmak (1998), Otto Preminger (1999), Fritz Lang (2001), F. W. Murnau (2003), and Luis Buñuel (2008). And have been dedicated to a variety of themes in cinema history: Exile (1983), Special Effects (1985), Colour (1988), Europe 1939 (1989), The Year 1945 (1990), Cold War (1991), Babelsberg (1992), CinemaScope (1993), Slapstick & Co. (1995), Artificial Humans (2000), European 60s (2002), New Hollywood (2004), Production Design & Film (2005), Female Stars in the Films of the 50's (2006), City Girls. Images of Women in Silent Film (2007). 

 

The following personalities have been Homage guests in Berlin: James Stewart (1982), Melina Mercouri and Jules Dassin (1984), Fred Zinnemann (1986), Jane Russell (1991), Hal Roach (1992), Gregory Peck (1993), Sophia Loren (1994), Alain Delon (1995), Elia Kazan (1996), Jack Lemmon (1996), Kim Novak (1997), Catherine Deneuve (1998), Shirley MacLaine (1999), Jeanne Moreau (2000), Kirk Douglas (2001), Claudia Cardinale (2002), Anouk Aimée (2003), Arthur Penn (2007), Francesco Rosi (2008).  

To bring back films to the screen in the best possible print quality is one of the goals of the Retrospective, a concern that has gained importance over the last few years. This endeavor is supported by an international network of archives, distributors, private collectors and copyright owners who provide prints and the right to show them. The Deutsche Kinemathek is a member of the Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film (FIAF) and maintains contact with numerous film archives around the world. Thanks to the costly restorations carried out by these archives, films can be discovered or rediscovered in all their original visual and audio brilliance, in their authentic colour or subtle grey tones as they were first shown.  

 

The Retrospective programme is accompanied by a series of events at the Deutsche Kinemathek including lectures, discussions, readings and presentations of documentation. The event series is a forum for our guests, a chance for discoveries, encounters and exchange – living cinematography. 

 

The Deutsche Kinemathek is responsible for conceiving and producing accompanying publications which are sold during the festival at special sales counters and in the Berlin Film Museum’s M-Shop. Their content is very closely tied to the theme and film programme of the Retrospective or the Homage. The books take an in-depth look at and shed light on the theme from several angles. They also provide a historical context – so that the publications will continue to serve as useful reference works beyond their original purpose. The films shown are documented with comprehensive filmographies and original reviews in “FilmHefte” (Film Magazine) which have been published every year since 1997.  

Further Information on the Berlinale's Retrospective on the website of the Deutsche Kinemathek:  www.deutsche-kinemathek.de