Hans Helmut Prinzler

Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau was one of the greatest directors of the silent film era. Influenced by painting, literature, and theater, he was recognized early on for his contribution toward developing a language specific to film. Murnau worked with the best cinematographers of his time: Fritz Arno Wagner, Karl Freund, Carl Hoffmann, Charles Rosher, Floyd Crosby. The most renowned actors all wanted to appear in his films. For many later European filmmakers, such as François Truffaut, Eric Rohmer, Jacques Rivette, and Jean-Luc Godard, as well as Werner Herzog, Volker Schlöndorff, and Wim Wenders, Murnau was the embodiment of German film history.

The Filmmuseum Berlin opened an exhibition in January 2003 on the life and oeuvre of Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau. Various items from the estate of the director can be seen there for the first time. The Berlin Film Festival in February 2003 is presenting a retrospective of restored copies of the twelve extant films along with a varied supporting program. A highlight will be the showing of the film DER LETZTE MANN (THE LAST LAUGH) at the Volksbühne at Rosa Luxemburg Platz with the music by Giuseppe Becce in an arrangement by Detlev Glanert. ZDF-Arte German-French television and the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation are co-sponsoring this event.

The Filmmuseum Berlin has published a book on Murnau to accompany the exhibition and retrospective. The German-language publication contains articles written by present-day German film directors, including Dominik Graf, Ulrike Ottinger, Helma Sanders-Brahms, Tom Tykwer, and Wim Wenders, and essays by Thomas Koebner, Daniela Sannwald, and Janet Bergstrom. There are also documents and other information as well as a section on the exhibition. Murnau can be discovered again and again.

Seventy years after his death, the Filmmuseum Berlin is offering a number of ways for you to do so.

Publication:
Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau. Ein Melancholiker des Films.
Hg. Hans Helmut Prinzler, Berlin: Bertz 2003.

Retrospektive:
6. - 16. February 2003. 53. Berlin Film Festival.

Exhibition:
23. January to 4. May 2003. Filmmuseum Berlin, Filmhaus (Sony Center), Potsdamer Str. 2, 10785 Berlin.

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