Film Restored 2025: “Action”

The Film Restored film heritage festival is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. From October 22 to 26 2025, the Kinemathek will present digital restorations from 13 countries, which will be accompanied by discussions, talks and workshops. Festival visitors will be given insights into the far-ranging theme of “action” in film and film history.

Action as a genre. Spectacular stunts and high-speed feats characterize action in cinema. Film Restored showcases this aesthetic—but above all, the extent to which interpretations of the genre extend beyond Hollywood. In ‘Abenteuer im Nachtexpress’ (D 1925), Harry Piel, the “dynamite director” of the Weimar era, risked life and limb with his train stunts. The film was long considered lost and has only recently been found and restored.

The festival also presents King Hu’s three-hour martial arts epic, ‘A Touch of Zen’ (TW 1970), which won an award at Cannes in 1975. It is considered a milestone in Asian cinema and has inspired directors like Ang Lee and Zhang Yimou. In a genre mix of horror, science fiction and pulp, the batwoman in ‘La mujer murciélago’ (MX 1968) investigates bizarre cases of missing persons. For the festival finale, Hitchcock’s classic ‘North by Northwest’ (USA 1959) will be screened, with its legendary and iconic airplane chase scene.

Social activism. The festival will also screen films that intervene, take up a stance and initiate debates and change through political intervention, such as ‘Lieber Herr Doktor’ (CH 1977), an early cinematic examination of abortion rights, or the documentary ‘Witches and Faggots, Dykes and Poofters’ (AUS 1980) that covers police violence against attendees of Sydney’s first Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and how the community defended itself. In a similar vein, Bettina Flitner’s ‘Mein Feind’ (D 1994) sparked a controversial debate about violence against women and women’s violent fantasies.

Action in archives. Film preservation requires action. Without the work of collecting, recording, repairing and restoring these films, they would no longer exist today. Among others, the extraordinary rescue story of Chetna Vora’s ‘Frauen in Berlin’ (Women in Berlin, GDR 1982) will be told. Vora smuggled her rough cut to the West, where it survived thanks to a video copy. Then the festival throws a spotlight on “Katsakh: Mediterranean archives”, a project that preserves small-format documentary films from the Eastern Mediterranean and makes them accessible for artistic and collaborative use.

Prize of the Association of German Cinematheques 

On 25 October, the Prize of the Association of German Cinematheques will once again be presented during the festival. It honors repertory cinemas and film culture initiatives. The honorary prize this year will be awarded to the philosopher and film scholar Heide Schlüpmann.

Other program highlights:

Short-film city tour

On 21 October, the eve of the festival opening, the Kinemathek, in cooperation with the initiative “A Wall is a Screen,” invites visitors to a short film city tour around the E-Werk in Berlin-Mitte. Further information will follow shortly here: deutsche-kinemathek.de/veranstaltungen.

FIAF Autumn Lab for Education

For the first time, the Deutsche Kinemathek is hosting the Autumn Lab for Education for industry experts. In cooperation with FIAF (Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film), the Lab brings together international archivists and film educators to try out new approaches in film education.

“Selects” streaming: Parallel to Film Restored, the 14th edition of “Selects” will present a separate selection of films free of charge from 15 October 2025 to 31 January 2026 on the theme of “Action”, curated from the Kinemathek’s collection.

Program

The complete program is available on the festival website.

Accreditation and tickets for Film Restored

Free accreditation for the complete festival program up to 10 October can be found here: deutsche-kinemathek.de/accreditationfr

From 1 October, tickets for films at Sinema Transtopia are available online and at the box office on site, while tickets for films at the Kinemathek can be purchased at the Kinemathek box office. More information: deutsche-kinemathek.de/filmrestored

Venues for Film Restored

Sinema Transtopia, Lindower Str. 20/22, 13347 Berlin

Kinemathek – Hall, Mauerstraße 79, 10117 Berlin

In cooperation with Sinema Transtopia

The Deutsche Kinemathek receives funding from the German Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media.

The Prize of the Association of German Cinematheques is organized by the Deutsche Kinemathek and is supported by special funds from the German Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media.