Retrospective & Berlinale Classics
Jan 13, 2025
Berlinale Classics 2025: Eight Premieres of Classic Films in Digitally Restored Versions
In the 2025 Berlinale Classics section, the artistic director of the Deutsche Kinemathek, Dr Rainer Rother, and his team showcase eight digitally restored film classics, seven world premieres and one international premiere. The eras represented range from the 1930s to the 1980s. For the first time, the section features restorations by the Estonian Film Institute (EFI) and the China Film Archive. Berlinale Classics also embraces genre cinema, a nod to the 2025 Retrospective.
The section will open with the world premiere of the 4K digitally restored version of Solo Sunny (1980) launching the DEFA Foundation’s Konrad Wolf Year, in honour of the 100th anniversary of his birth. The film was restored by Eurotape using, as far as possible, the original 35 mm picture negative. All work was done in close collaboration with the film’s cinematographer Eberhard Geick. Solo Sunny was shown in Competition at the 1980 Berlinale, where Renate Krößner won the Silver Bear for Best Actress.
The restored version of Wu Yonggang’s directorial debut Shennü (The Goddess, 1934), a masterpiece of China’s silent film era, marks the 90th anniversary of the death of its female star, legendary actor Ruan Lingyu. The digitisation and restoration in 4K was done by the China Film Archive Digital Restoration Laboratory using the original 35 mm nitrate negative. The score, originally written by renowned composer Zou Ye, was recorded by the China Philharmonic Orchestra and remastered in 5.1 Dolby Surround.
That same decade saw the release of the legendary war drama Hell’s Angels by Howard Hughes and James Whale about two brothers in World War I; it has the distinction of being the first and last time Jean Harlow was seen in colour on the big screen. Hughes himself undertook piloting duties for one of the truly spectacular dogfighting sequences. The 4K restoration was done by Universal Pictures at NBCUniversal StudioPost from a 35mm dupe negative and optical soundtrack negative provided by the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
Gregory Peck played the lead in the 1947 courtroom drama The Paradine Case by master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock. This 4K digital restoration was supervised by Walt Disney Studios and Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation, using the original 35 mm nitrate negative. It is presented by Park Circus. The restored version has a runtime of 114 minutes, as officially released by producer David O. Selznick; Hitchcock’s original premiere version ran almost 20 minutes longer.
Seisaku no Tsuma (The Wife of Seisaku) is Yasuzô Masumura’s intense 1965 drama shot in widescreen black-and-white. The Kadokawa Corporation did the 4K restoration from the 35 mm original negative at Imagica EMS. The grading was overseen by Masahiro Miyajima, for many years the chief assistant to legendary cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa. It was possible to restore the original texture and beauty of the DaieiScope movie using the storyboards by Miyajima.
Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood is the unconventional title police inspector in Dirty Harry (1971). Warner Bros. restored Don Siegel’s film using an 8K scan of the original 35 mm camera negative. The digitally restored picture was conformed to the original aspect ratio of 2.39:1. The sound was also restored from original source elements, resulting in a newly remastered immersive audio experience.
Naerata ometi (Smile at Last) by Leida Laius and Arvo Iho, about a 16-year-old in an Estonian orphanage, premiered in 1985 and won the 1987 UNICEF prize at the Berlin International Film Festival. The National Archives of Estonia digitised the film in 6K, and Locomotive Classics carried out the 4K restoration commissioned by the Estonian Film Institute. The primary source for the restoration was a double interpositive. The film’s co-director and cinematographer, Arvo Iho, supervised the picture restoration and colour correction.
Spain is the country in focus at this year’s European Film Market, and Berlinale Classics is presenting the restored 4K version of Vestida de azul (Dressed in Blue, 1983). The restoration was carried out at Cherry Towers by Enrique Cerezo P.C. and Video Mercury Films using the original picture and sound negatives. The colour correction drew on reference material from the late director Antonio Giménez-Rico. The world premiere of the new restoration at the Berlinale is an homage to a groundbreaking documentary about queer life in Spain that continues to be a touchstone for the LGBTQIA+ community.
Among the guests expected in Berlin for the Classics section is one of the film’s main protagonists, Nacha Sánchez.
For detailed technical information on the restoration of the films, please contact Silke Lehmann.
The complete list of Berlinale Classics films is here.
Press Office
January 13, 2025