Restoring the Magic: The Journey of 'Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans' at Il Cinema Ritrovato Festival
The iconic silent film "Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans" by F.W. Murnau was showcased at the 40th Il Cinema Ritrovato Festival in Italy, drawing a crowd of 7,000 spectators in Bologna's Piazza Maggiore square. The film was restored by the San Francisco Film Preserve, allowing audiences to experience the 1927 masterpiece with a new live score performed by the Teatro Comunale di Bologna orchestra. Despite the challenges of working with later generation materials due to the loss of the original negatives, the restoration team scoured archives worldwide to find the highest quality surviving materials.
The restoration of "Sunrise" involved a transnational collaboration with film materials preserved by various institutions such as the British Film Institute National Archive, Cinémathèque royale de Belgique, The Museum of Modern Art, and others. The film was graded at Bologna's L'Immagine Ritrovata laboratory to ensure a high-quality viewing experience. The screening at the festival will be accompanied by a new score composed and conducted by Timothy Brock, a renowned expert in film music.
The 40th edition of Cinema Ritrovato will feature a lineup of 540 rediscovered "vintage" movies from around the world, including both classic and lesser-known works. Guests at the festival include Isabella Rossellini, Marco Bellocchio, Wim Wenders, and other prominent figures in the film industry. Director Alice Rohrwacher, who has seen "Sunrise" multiple times, expressed her admiration for the film and her intention to create a silent film of her own.
The festival will conclude with the world premiere of recent MoMA restorations of two Charlie Chaplin films, "A Dog's Life" and "Shoulder Arms," presented in their original 1918 versions. These films, shot at Chaplin's Hollywood studios, will be accompanied by live orchestral performances of Timothy Brock's specially composed scores by Orchestra Senzaspine. Il Cinema Ritrovato promises a diverse selection of cinematic treasures, showcasing both well-known classics and hidden gems for audiences to discover and enjoy.