17.08.2023
Museumsinsel Berlin
The 13th instalment of the UFA Film Nights takes place on three evenings in the open air, against the spectacular backdrop of Berlin’s museums and accompanied by live music. From 23 to 25 August 2023, the Kolonnadenhof on the Museumsinsel Berlin (Bodestrasse 1–3, 10178 Berlin) will play host to three masterpieces of the cinema of the Weimar era, presented by Bertelsmann and UFA: Warning Shadows, Where is Coletti? and Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler: Inferno. The music is provided by the world-renowned organist Cameron Carpenter, the Metropolis Orchester Berlin, and the pioneer of electronic music, Moritz von Oswald.
Before each screening, a celebrity presenter will provide some cinematographic and historical background to put the films into context.
Wednesday, 23 August 2023, film starts at 9 pm
This year’s opening movie is Arthur Robison’s Schatten (Warning Shadows) from 1923. In his expressionistic silent film, the German-born American Robison masterfully uses light and shadow to tell a story of love and consuming jealousy. The film features a top-notch cast including Fritz Kortner, Ruth Weyher, Gustav von Wangenheim, Alexander Granach, and Fritz Rasp and premiered in Berlin exactly 100 years ago. Schatten is accompanied by Cameron Carpenter, a world-renowned organist who has been thrilling the international music world for years with his mastery of the organ.
Director: Arthur Robison
Production: Pan-Film
Camera: Fritz Arno Wagner
Cast: Fritz Kortner, Ruth Weyher, Gustav von Wangenheim, Alexander Granach, Fritz Rasp and others
Length: 75 min.
Music: Cameron Carpenter on the organ
Thursday, 24 August 2023, film starts at 9 pm
On the second evening, one of the first detective stories in German film history will celebrate its premiere in a digitally restored version by the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation: Max Mack’s crime comedy Wo ist Coletti? (Where is Coletti?) from 1913, in which a bustling imperial-era Berlin mobilizes to track down an elusive detective who takes on a variety of disguises. The musical accompaniment to the film is provided by the Metropolis Orchester Berlin, based on a new composition by Richard Siedhoff.
Director: Max Mack
Production: Deutsche Vitascope
Screenplay: Franz von Schönthan
Cast: Hans Junkermann, Magde Lessing, Heinrich Peer, Anna Müller-Linke and others
Length: 79 min.
Music: Metropolis Orchester Berlin based on a new composition by Richard Siedhoff
Friday, 25 August 2023, film starts at 9 pm
This year’s UFA Film Nights close with the second part of Fritz Lang’s mammoth work Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler (Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler) from 1922, which picks up where the first part, screened at the UFA Film Nights 2022, left off. Subtitled Inferno. Ein Spiel von Menschen unserer Zeit (Inferno: A Game For The People Of Our Age), it continues the police and prosecutors’ merciless hunt for the supervillain Dr. Mabuse. The film is preceded by a short summary of the first part to introduce all viewers to the story. Moritz von Oswald, musician, music producer, DJ, and a pioneer of electronic music, will provide the accompaniment to Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler II, with a soundtrack created especially for the film, live at the mixing console.
Director: Fritz Lang
Production: Uco-Film (Ufa)
Screenplay: Fritz Lang, Thea von Harbou
Cast: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Aud Egede Nissen, Alfred Abel and others
Length: 118 min.
Music: Moritz von Oswald: Fritz Lang
Tickets for the UFA Film Nights are now available for €20 (including booking fees) via the website of the UFA Film Nights and at all presale outlets in Berlin and Brandenburg.
All three films can also be watched via live stream and on demand for a further 24 hours after the screenings.