'Hamlet' restored print premiering at Berlin Festival

The 57th Berlin Film Festival features two silent classic as a restrospective of women in the silent era.

February 10th, the 57th Berlin International Film Festival will be featuring for audiences, the restored prints of the once lost “Hamlet” adaptations. The 1920 film features silent film legend Asta Nielsen as Hamlet, a young girl who is forced to masquerade as a man to obtain her social status.

This original interpretation branded the film a pure classic, and was directed by Sven Gade & Heinz Schall, was originally thought to be lost, until re-discovered and restored by Turin's Museo Nazionale del Cinema, from the original black and white prints, and will be shown in its initial color version, with a new score from composer Michael Riessler.

News on the official website for the Berlin Festival explains: “Before the screening, during a podium discussion in the Filmhaus on Potsdamer Platz, Claudia Dillmann (DIF), Nina Goslar (ZDF/ARTE), Karola Gramann (Kinothek Asta Nielsen), and Anke Mebold (DIF) will talk about the significance of the film and give background information about its restoration. The discussion will be hosted by Dr. Rainer Rother, director of the Retrospective.”

To continue the festival’s retrospective on women in the silent era, February 17th and 18th marks the premiere of “Cabiria,” the controversial 1914 silent film classic which will be paired with the 1931 sound version, thought to have been lost.

Visit the official website for more information.