Film Restored – screening ‘I’m a Negro. I’m an American – Paul Robeson’

Content note

The preservation and reflection of audiovisual heritage is the task of the Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek. This includes content in the collections and archives that is tinged with ideology, which reproduces racist stereotypes and perpetuates prejudice. Dealing with this content requires special caution and care. Its presentation, whether in publications or exhibitions, must be contextualized, but the problematic content must not be obscured or altered. This does not imply approval of the respective content.

DE/COLONIAL GAZE

Screening ‘I’m a Negro. I’m an American – Paul Robeson’, GDR, 1990, directed by Kurt Tetzlaff

OV 

Original format: 35 mm, 1:1,37, bw 

Screening print: DCP, 86 min, Deutsche Kinemathek, Berlin 

American actor, singer, and civil rights activist Paul Robeson would have turned 90 in 1988. That milestone engendered this cinematic homage, which premiered two years later in East Berlin at the Festival of Political Songs. Underpinned by Robeson’s music, this documentary tells the story of his life – from his start as the son of preacher, to brilliant law student, football player and, finally, famed actor, musician, and political activist.

The digitization was done from a 35mm negative that included some spliced in archive material from various gene- rations of prints. It was scanned in 4K. The audio was taken from mono magnetic tape. A distribution print was used as a reference for the partial German subtitles. The restoration, commissioned by the DEFA Foundation, was done by Cinegrell Postfactory GmbH in Berlin. It was made possible with fund- ing from the film heritage subsidy programme FFE.

Introduction: Philip Zengel (DEFA-Stiftung)

→ Tickets: 8,50 €