CineFest 2004
   Hamburg, Germany - November

The 1st International Festival of German Film Heritage

The 17th International Film History Conference

In close collaboration with international scholars and archives, CineGraph and the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv have developed a new concept for their traditional conference, expanding it into a Festival of German Film Heritage.

Apart from exploring new and forgotten areas of film history, the festival will provide a prominent showcase for archives which preserve and restore the treasures of German Cinema. The aim is also to create a forum for academics, students, archivists, technicians and film buffs to exchange information and discuss new developments.

This will be the first festival to focus on German film heritage, thus filling an important gap on the international circuit of specialist film events. An extensive retrospective looking at a key aspect of the history of film in Germany will be combined with workshops and conference sessions, allowing guests to see rare films from German and international archives while exchanging information and ideas with a range of professional colleagues.

The film programme will subsequently tour to Berlin (Zeughauskino - Deutsches Historisches Museum), Vienna (Metro Kino / Filmarchiv Austria), and Zurich (Filmpodium / Cinemathèque Suisse).

The subject of this year's retrospective will be Comedy in Germany in Wihelminian, Weimar and Nazi Cinema. The special focus - and theme of the 17th congress - will be the contribution of Jewish comedians and filmmakers to the genre as well as the attempts of the Nazi film industry to fill the gap it created by expelling most of the best talent from Germany.

Among the film programmes presented will be:

• Kintopp: a series of short comedies of the 1910s by and with Gerhard Dammann, Hansi Degen, Rudi Bach, Anna Müller-Lincke, Ossi Oswalda, and - of course - Ernst Lubitsch: WENN VIER DASSELBE TUN (1917), ICH MÖCHTE KEIN MANN SEIN (1918)


• Silent films from the 1920s (accompanied by live music) starring among others: Curt Bois and Reinhold Schünzel, who will be represented by at least 5 films, including two magnificent unknown works resurrected from the vaults of Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv: DER HIMMEL AUF ERDEN (1926/27) and HERKULES MAIER (1927)


• Early sound comedies with Siegfried Arno and Anny Ondra singing and dancing in: DIE VOM RUMMELPLATZ (1930), KEINE FEIER OHNE MEYER (1931)


• Comedies of the early Nazi period, aimed at keeping both German and international Ufa customers satisfied, starring Renate Müller, Willy Fritsch, Lilian Harvey, Paul Kemp: GLÜCKSKINDER (1936), NAPOLEON IST AN ALLEM SCHULD (1938), both scripted by Curt Goetz


• Entertainment films with which the Nazis tried to cheer up the German people, including films with Heinz Rühmann, Rudi Godden, PARADIES DER JUNGGESELLEN (1939) or ROBERT UND BERTRAM (1939), Hans H. Zerlett's anti-semitic musical, based on a 19th century farce.


• All films feature great supporting casts, with actors of such variety and excellence as Julius Falkenstein, Szöke Szakall, Claire Rommer, Otto Wallburg, Adele Sandrock, Paul Morgan, Kurt Gerron and Ralph Arthur Roberts. Also songs by composers Werner Richard Heymann, Friedrich Hollaender, Franz Wachsmann, performed by The Comedian Harmonists or Weintraub's Syncopators.


• There will be special programmes dedicated to Austrian comedians Hans Moser and Franciska Gaál

For accreditation and further information regarding the festival and conference programme
please contact:

CineGraph - Hamburgisches Centrum für Filmforschung e.V.
Gänsemarkt 43
20354 Hamburg
Tel +49-40-352194, Fax +49-40-345864
E-Mail: kongress@cinegraph.de
Web: www.cinegraph.de

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