A total of six Berlinale Classics will be screening as part of the Retrospective at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival. The Berlinale will mark a world premiere of the restored versions of five of the films, and the international premiere of one. In addition to classics from Germany, Denmark, and Hungary, the series will include film classics from the USA, Norway, and South Korea.
It is the first time that Berlinale Classics will be showing a film from Norway, which is also the “Country in Focus” at this year’s European Film Market (EFM): Ung flukt (The Wayward Girl, 1959), based on a book by Nils Johan Rud, is the last feature made by director Edith Carlmar. It’s the story of 17-year-old Gerd and her boyfriend, who survive on fresh air and love in a remote cabin. Then a drifter turns up whom the young girl quite fancies. In her first lead role, Liv Ullmann plays an adolescent who is as vivacious as she is fragile. For the digital restoration, the National Library of Norway used a scan of the original 35mm material and the original sound negative to create a DCP of outstanding quality.
Destry Rides Again (USA 1939) was directed by George Marshall and stars Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart. The film was restored by Universal Pictures in collaboration with Martin Scorsese’s The Film Foundation. It is a rip-roaring, style-setting western comedy about a sheriff who eschews the use of weapons. Released at the start of World War II, the film carried an unvarnished message cautioning against US appeasement policy towards the Third Reich. The primary element used for the restoration was a 35mm nitrate composite fine grain. Restoration services were provided by NBCUniversal StudioPost, which performed a wet gate scan and was responsible for the entire 4K workflow. Universal expresses special thanks to Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, who consulted on the restoration.
Im Kwon-taek’s 1980 film Jagko (Pursuit of Death) is the story of a former South Korean officer who spends 30 years trying to track down a former guerrilla fighter from the communist North. This political parable about a grim (anti-) hero reflects the tragedy of a country divided since 1945. Jagko was restored in 2K by the Korean Film Archive using the 35mm original negative. The restoration included replacing missing frames, correcting wear and tear and color fading, and conforming the digital version as far as possible to the original version.
2019 Berlinale Classics:
Destry Rides Again
dir: George Marshall, USA 1939
World premiere of the digitally restored version in 4K DCP
Jagko (Pursuit of Death)
dir: Im Kwon-taek, South Korea 1980
International premiere of the digitally restored version in 2K DCP
Ordet (The Word)
dir: Carl Theodor Dreyer, Denmark 1955
World premiere of the digitally restored version in 4K DCP
Örökbefogadás (Adoption)
dir: Márta Mészáros, Hungary 1975
World premiere of the digitally restored version in 4K DCP
Die Sieger (The Invincibles), Director’s Cut
dir: Dominik Graf, Germany 1994
World premiere of the digitally restored version in 4K DCP
Ung flukt (The Wayward Girl)
dir: Edith Carlmar, Norway 1959
World premiere of the digitally restored version in 4K DCP