“Extraordinarily sensual.”—Pauleen Kael, The New Yorker
F. W. Murnau’s Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans is often, and deservedly, recognized as the supreme achievement of the silent era cinema—and of all the eras that followed. For nearly one hundred years, critics, historians, scholars, and film lovers have recognized its artistry, emotion, and technical brilliance. The film’s excellence was recognized for Unique and Artistic Production at the first Academy Award ceremony, and the latest BFI Sight and Sound poll ranks Sunrise as #11 on its list of Greatest Films of All Time.
The great pioneer of German Expressionism (Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, The Last Laugh, Faust), Murnau came to Hollywood in 1927 where William Fox provided budgetary and artistic carte blanche to create a cinematic masterpiece. Working with master cinematographers Charles Rosher and Karl Struss, Murnau’s fluid tracking shots, superimpositions, and symbolic use of light helped redefine what film language could accomplish, achieving a level of visual storytelling that required no dialogue to communicate its eternal themes of guilt, forgiveness, and renewal. With Sunrise’s centenary coinciding with that of the Speed Art Museum, what better time to celebrate Murnau’s masterpiece with a renewal of its own.
The film has been restored by the San Francisco Film Preserve with archival footage from The Museum of Modern Art, the British Film Institute, and others. This extensive new restoration had its world premiere at the Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna, Italy in June and U.S. premiere at MoMA in August. 1927, U.S., 4K DCP, 95 minutes. Recommended for 16+.
CINEMA + with an introduction by Robert Byrne, Board President of the San Francisco Film Preserve.