Film Archive

Berlin Symphony (Berlin - Sinfonie einer Grossstadt)

"I think most people who feel a rush of excitement watching my Berlin film don't know where it's coming from. If I managed to give people a sense of that excitement, of allowing them to experience the city of Berlin, then I achieved what I set out to do and proved that I was right all along." (Walther Ruttmann)

In 1927, Walther Ruttmann shot his majestic documentary Berlin. Symphony of a City. In September of that same year, this milestone of the silent film era was premiered at Berlin's Tauentzien Palast with a specially composed live soundtrack.

Seventy-five years later, Berlin is in the midst of a uniquely vibrant and exciting transition. Ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the re-energized drive of history is bringing forth a new city. People from all over the world and from all walks of life are coming together to form a new metropolis, one reminiscent in many ways of 1920s Berlin.

While retaining some of the original's basic dramatic principles and characteristics -organizing every shot in the film according to a symphonic structure, depicting one day in the life of the city using several main themes, and shooting on black-and-white 35 mm film - this remake also strives to establish its own cohesive pictorial language and narrative structure.

Thomas Schadt was born in 1957 in Nuremberg. During his Photography studies, he worked as a film projectionist, photography assistant and theater photographer, followed by studies at the German Film & Television Academy (dffb) in Berlin from 1980-1983. He then founded his own film production company, Odyssee-Film, and has been working since as a freelance documentary filmmaker, photographer and cinematographer. Since 1991, he has been teaching at various film academies, including the dffb and the Film Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg in Ludwigsburg. His films include: his graduation film Was hab i in Hawaii verloren (1982), Unterwegs nach immer und ueberall – Eine Deutschlandreise (1985/1986), Der Autobahnkrieg (1991) – winner of the Adolf Grimme Award, Grenzgaenge – Die Deutschen auf der Suche nach einer Identitaet (1993) and Augenzeugen – Die Fotografen Hoepker, Lebeck, Moses und Scheler (1998) together with Reiner Holzemer, Der Kandidat – Gerhard Schroeder im Wahlkampf ‘98 (1998) – winner of the German Television Award for Best Documentary in 1999, Hans im Glueck – Deutsche Banker an der Wall Street (1999), My Way – James Last (2001), Berlin Symphony (Berlin - Sinfonie einer Grossstadt, 2002), and many, many more.
 

Genre History
Category Documentary Cinema
Year of Production 2002
Director Thomas Schadt
Screenplay Thomas Schadt
Editor Thomas Wellmann
Music by Helmut Oehring, Iris ter Schiphorst
Producer Nico Hofmann
Production Companies Odyssee Film/Berlin, teamWorx/Berlin
Length 82 min, 2,300 m
Format 35 mm, b&w, 1:1.66
Sound Technology Dolby SR
With backing from BKM, MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg

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