METROPOLIS. THE REDISCOVERED MASTERPIECE
The National Cinema Museum will host the METROPOLIS. The rediscovered masterpiece exhibition, a Deutsche Kinemathek - Museum für Film und Fernsehen (Berlin) project by curators Peter Mänz and Kristina Jaspers, within its venues at the Mole Antonelliana, from 4 October 2012 to 6 January 2013.
For the first time, this exhibition, now reaching Italy after being presented in Berlin, Paris and Toulouse, will reunite original film documents mainly belonging to the Deutsche Kinemathek collections, enriched by a series of pictures from the Cinémathèque française archives. The scores of items on display include the screenplay, the soundtrack score, architectural plans and costume sketches, drawings for special effects, scenery props and filming equipment, as well as hundreds of on-set photographs taken during the shooting, showing the participants’ massive commitment, but also their creativity.
The exhibition will be spread over various areas of the museum. A spectacular scenography in the Temple Hall, inspired by the film and made up of 33 skyscrapers, will host the display-cases showcasing the exhibits and a reconstruction in 3D with a holographic screening of robot Maria’s transformation. In front of this setting in the case under the 35mm projectors, are 8 plaster model heads representing death and the seven deadly sins, used as a base for the actors’ masks.
On the helicoidal ramp, instead, the visitor circuit is a journey to discover Metropolis. Pages from the original screenplay lie side-by-side with set photos, stage-set and costumes sketches, the original music score, illustrating its creation, the whole interspersed with 7 screens projecting excerpts from the film, with the reconstructed and recently found sequences. Still on the helicoidal ramp, a brief circuit retraces the restoration of the film, thanks to the discovery of a print conforming to the 1927 original, preserved at the Museo del Cine in Buenos Aires.
Finally, in the reception area of the museum it will be possible to watch a screening of the documentary Die Reise nach Metropolis by Artem Demenok in original version with subtitles in Italian, dedicated to the historical and artistic importance of Fritz Lang’s masterpiece, while a great tri-dimensional lit-up picture representing the dial of the heart machine, the protagonist of one of the most important scenes in the film, is located in the Mole Antonelliana colonnade.
The exhibition title, “the rediscovered masterpiece”, synthesizes the tormented history of Metropolis, which was subjected to extensive cuts, already following its première in 1927. Only in 2008 an almost complete version, the object of important restoration, bequeathed by a collector years earlier to the Museo del Cine and never checked before, was discovered in Buenos Aires. The documents collated for the exhibition and new restored pictures of the film bring the production stages back to life and permit a deeper understanding of this work, which has been declared world heritage for mankind.
Rounding off the exhibition, is the catalogue published by the National Cinema Museum, which includes pictures of all the items on display, a biographical note on Fritz Lang and his filmography and a file on the film, all enriched by an important introductory essay signed by Paolo Bertetto.
The exhibition will be inaugurated on 4 October at 7 p.m. at the National Cinema Museum.
Always on 4 October, at 9 p.m. Metropolis by Fritz Lang will be presented in a 2k digital screening at the Cinema Massimo, in the sound-tracked version with the original score composed in 1927 by Gottfried Huppertz. (Screen One – Admission 7.00 / 5.00 / 4.00 euro)
In addition, on the occasion of the Metropolis. The rediscovered masterpiece exhibition, the Museum Educational Services will organise a series of activities for the public and for schools, with guided tours and laboratories. For further information www.museocinema.it/educa.
Concurrently, the “Il Castoro alla Mole” Museum-store is announcing the official launch of its own website, planned and developed with e-commerce features. For the occasion of Metropolis, the museum-store will offer a series of customised articles, among them the exhibition poster and catalogue, the film postcard, a specific selection of DVDs and books, as well as an exclusive cotton shopper-bag, created on purpose for this exhibition.