Silent Film Concert Double Feature: ‘The Strange Bird’ and ‘The Fan Painter’

For more than a century, the silent films ‘The Strange Bird’ and ‘The Fan Painter’ were only available in black and white. The Kinemathek was responsible for the color restorations of these films, and this event will revive the original cinema experience of the 1910s with live musical accompaniment!

Both films are exemplary of the early cinema of the 1910s – an exciting era of formal experiments and the beginning of the star and feature film systems. Both films explore the reality of female life in conflict with the patriarchal structures of Wilhelmine society through their protagonists, including silent film star Asta Nielsen. Innovative visual language artfully brings the historical changes of class and gender to the screen.

An illustrated lecture by restorer Masha Matzke (Deutsche Kinemathek) introduces the audience to the restoration and production context. Mascha Matzke will talk about, among other things, the coloration process and the image of women in German cinema of the 1910s.

‘The Strange Bird’, GER 1911, director: Urban Gad, DCP, silent film with German intertitles and English subtitles, 49 mins

‘The Fan Painter’, GER 1913, director: Rudolf Meinert, DCP, silent film with German intertitles and English subtitles, 41 mins
German premiere of the restored film 

Live musical accompaniment: Eunice Martins (pianist)