Skip to main content

Hauptmenü (NEU)

  • Visit
    • Program
    • Plan your visit
    • Families
    • Groups
    • Schools
  • Online
    • Streaming
    • Digital collection
    • 360° exhibitions
  • Research
    • Archives
    • Film distribution
    • Library
  • Kinemathek
    • About us
    • E-Werk
    • History
    • Publications
    • Jobs
    • Press

Bottom menu

  • Contact
  • Become a supporter

Follow us on:

  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

Top menu

  • Deutsch
  • English
  • Plain language
  • Sign language

Breadcrumb

  1. Visit
  2. Exhibitions
  3. Berlin Symphonies

›Berlin – Sinfonie einer Grossstadt‹, D 2002, R: Thomas Schadt
Quelle: Deutsche Kinemathek

Berlin Symphonies

3.11.23 – 31.10.24

General information

›Berlin. Die Sinfonie der Grossstadt‹, D 1927, D: Walter Ruttmann
Source: Deutsche Kinemathek

We are presenting a media installation that takes viewers on a journey through a century of Berlin’s history.

Just as the musical symphony strives for the harmony of a range of instruments, melodies and rhythms, the film symphony aims to combine a range of visual imagery with a specially composed score to form a coherent whole without dialogue. Walther Ruttmann created this genre in 1927 with the documentary ‘Berlin. Die Sinfonie der Grossstadt’ (Berlin. The Symphony of the Big City), which depicts a day in the life of the city and its population in poetic, expressive moving images.

›Symphony of Now‹, D 2018, D: Johannes Schaff
Source: Deutsche Kinemathek

Excerpts from these film symphonies are juxtaposed in three synchronous projections to create a new composition that looks back on a day in the life of Berlin in the 1920s, at the turn of the millennium and in the present. The installation not only takes the viewer on a journey through the history of film but above all through the history of Berlin. Its changing urban landscape as well as Berliners’ workplaces and social interaction is shown. Alongside specific images that illustrate the period in which each film was made, the interplay of the three films highlights the continuities that make the city what it is: a place of contrasts. Here international city life and neighbourhood culture intersect, as well as political resistance and hedonistic temptation, yesterday and tomorrow.

Credits

Credits

Media curator: Anna Heizmann
Editing: Stanislaw Milkowski
Media setup: Stephan Werner
Exhibition graphics: Vera Franke, Franke | Steinert, Berlin

With friendly support from Max Hassemer (DREINULL), Marc Klocker (NFP marketing & distribution GmbH) and Sandra Thimm (UFA FICTION GmbH). The documentary ‘Berlin. The Symphony of the Big City’ (SWR 2002, Thomas Schadt) can be seen in full length in the media library opposite as part of the Television Archive, which makes presents more than 12,000 programmes throughout the history of German television.

Partner

Partner

  • In cooperation with Der regierende Bürgermeister von Berlin – Senatskanzlei

Share via:

  • E-mail
  • Print/PDF

Newsletter

Missed out on yet another event? Sign up now for our newsletter and news from the Deutsche Kinemathek will be sent once a month directly to your inbox.

Contact

  • Accessibility
  • Contacts
  • Getting to the Museum

Programs

  • Education
  • Families
  • Schools
  • Academics

Services

  • Film distribution
  • Press
  • Rentals

Follow us

Follow us on:

  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Deutsch
  • English
  • Federal act to protect cultural property
  • Fee schedule
  • Imprint
  • Data privacy
  • Cookie settings
Back to Top
Funded by: 
Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek Berlin © 2025