Press Release | Berlin, 08/22/2024

UFA Film Nights 2024 Off to a Strong Start

• Screening of Carl Lamač’s comedy “Suzy Saxophone” as opening event of the three-day silent film festival on Berlin’s Museum Island completely sold out
• More than 300 guests from society and culture attend reception at Bertelsmann Unter den Linden 1
• Thomas Rabe: “Bertelsmann preserves cultural heritage and makes it accessible to a broad public”

Berlin, August 22, 2024 – Carl Lamač’s comedy “Suzy Saxophone” (original German title: Saxophon-Susi) provided a sold-out start to the 14th UFA Film Nights yesterday evening. More than 1,000 people attended the screening of the 1928 silent film, which was reconstructed and digitally restored by the German Film Institute & Film Museum (DFF), at the Kolonnadenhof on Berlin’s Museum Island. The musical accompaniment to “Susi Saxophone” was provided by the film orchestra The Sprockets, based on a composition by their saxophonist Frido ter Beek.

Before the film screening on Museum Island, Bertelsmann and UFA welcomed around 300 guests to a reception on the rooftop terrace of Bertelsmann Unter den Linden 1. The event was attended by numerous well-known actors, cultural figures and personages from politics and society, who were welcomed by Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Rabe.

In addition to Andrea Sawatzki, this year’s patron of the UFA Film Nights, Holocaust survivor Margot Friedländer; film directors Detlev Buck and Leander Hausmann; Thomas Fehrle, Director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Klaus Biesenbach, director Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hermann Parzinger, president of the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbeseitz, and author Laura von Wangenheim, granddaughter of actor Gustav von Wangenheim, were there for the first evening of the UFA Film Nights.

Famous German actors and actresses also accepted the invitation from the international media, services and education group and its subsidiary. Celebrities from the world of film who came to watch included Inka Friedrich, Ivy Quainoo, Dennenesch Zoude, Florence Kasumba, Ulrike Frank, Annika Kuhl, Jürgen Prochnow, Hans Werner Meyer, Stephan Grossmann, Luise Aschenbrenner, Martina Gierlich, Amelie Hennig, Julia Jendroßek, Johannes Hendrik Langer, Clelia Sarto, Max von Pufendorf, Michael Grimm und Deborah Kaufmann.

Bertelsmann Chairman & CEO Thomas Rabe said: “UFA has been part of Bertelsmann since 1964. Its historical film collection was transferred to the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation in 1966. The foundation is responsible for preserving this cinematic heritage and has already restored and digitized several silent film classics. Preserving and protecting creative works is part of our company’s history and our cultural responsibility - which is why Bertelsmann provides significant support for these restorations and digitizations. By hosting the UFA Film Nights, Bertelsmann also ensures that the cultural asset of silent film is once again made accessible to a broad audience.”

You can find pictures from yesterday evening here  .

This evening, the UFA Film Nights continue with the 1925 documentary DIE STADT DER MILLIONEN. EIN LEBENSBILD BERLINS – CITY OF MILLIONS. A PORTRAIT OF BERLIN, directed by Adolf Trotz. Produced by Ufa’s Cultural Film department, it is considered to be the first feature-length film portrait of Berlin, showing the hectic urban aspects of what was then a city of four million people, as well as its historical and contemplative sides. DJ Raphaël Marionneau will be live at the turntables to provide a soundtrack to the film, which was digitally restored by the Filmmuseum Potsdam.

On Friday, the UFA Film Nights 2024 close with a double feature of two of Ernst Lubitsch’s early films. The evening begins with KOHLHIESELS TÖCHTER – KOHLHIESEL’S DAUGHTERS (1919/20) starring Henny Porten, Germany’s first silent film star, alongside Emil Jannings, Gustav von Wangenheim, and Jakob Tiedke. The second feature is Lubitsch’s ICH MÖCHTE KEIN MANN SEIN – I DON’T WANT TO BE A MAN (1918) starring Ossi Oswalda.

Tickets for both evenings can still be purchased at the entrance.

The Schedule at a Glance

Wednesday, August 21, 2024, film started at 9:00 p.m.
SAXOPHON-SUSI – SUZY SAXOPHONE (1928)
Director: Carl Lamač
Cast: Anny Ondra, Mary Parker, Gaston Jacquet, Olga Limburg, Hans Albers
Production: Hom-Film
Length: Approx. 90 min.
Music: Frido ter Beek and The Sprockets film orchestra

Thursday, August 22, 2024, film starts at 9:00 p.m.
DIE STADT DER MILLIONEN. EIN LEBENSBILD BERLINS – CITY OF MILLIONS. A PORTRAIT OF BERLIN (1925)
Director: Adolf Trotz
Production: Ufa’s Cultural Film department
Length: 80 min.
Music: DJ Raphaël Marionneau

Friday, August 23, 2024, film starts at 9:00 p.m.
ERNST LUBITSCH DOUBLE FEATURE
KOHLHIESELS TÖCHTER – KOHLHIESEL’S DAUGHTERS (1919/20) Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Cast: Henny Porten, Emil Jannings, Gustav von Wangenheim, Jakob Tiedke
Production: Messter Film
Length: approx. 60 min.
Music: Florian C. Reithner (composition). Performed by the Metropolis Orchester Berlin, conducted by Burkhard Götze

ICH MÖCHTE KEIN MANN SEIN – I DON’T WANT TO BE A MAN (1918)
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Cast: Ossi Oswalda, Ferry Sikla, Curt Goetz, Margarete Kupfer, Victor Janson
Production: Projektions-AG “Union” for Universum Film-AG
Length: 45 min.
Music: Ensemble Narrativ led by Maria Reich and Florian C. Reithner

UFA Film Nights partners are the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, the German Film Institute Film Museum, Apleona and Maz&Movie. Ströer, radioeins and radio3 are the event’s media partners.

As a creative content company with a nearly 190-year history, Bertelsmann is committed to cultural activities at various levels. Its “Culture@Bertelsmann” activities focus on preserving important cultural assets and making them accessible to a broad public, for example through digitization, exhibitions, and concerts. For many years, Bertelsmann has organized the UFA Film Nights, a popular silent film festival in Berlin, and has repeatedly acted as the main sponsor for the digital restoration of important silent films. The Group also owns the Archivio Storico Ricordi in Milan, which houses a wealth of unique testimonies from 200 years of Italian opera history. Bertelsmann is indexing the archive holdings according to the latest standards and making thousands of documents, set and costume designs, libretti, and pieces of business correspondence freely accessible online. For more than 20 years, Bertelsmann’s literary format “The Blue Sofa” has provided authors with a prominent stage for their latest works.

About Bertelsmann
Bertelsmann is a media, services and education company with more than 80,000 employees that operates in about 50 countries around the world. It includes the entertainment group RTL Group, the trade book publisher Penguin Random House, the music company BMG, the service provider Arvato Group, Bertelsmann Marketing Services, the Bertelsmann Education Group and Bertelsmann Investments, an international network of funds. The company generated revenues of €20.2 billion in the 2023 financial year. Bertelsmann stands for creativity and entrepreneurship. This combination promotes first-class media content and innovative service solutions that inspire customers around the world. Bertelsmann aspires to achieve climate neutrality by 2030.

About UFA
UFA is a leading production companies for series and films, shows, and documentaries in the German-speaking world. New and long-running programs produced by UFA reach an average of more than 30 million people every week and are currently available on nearly all TV channels and streaming services. The creative powerhouse bundles the range of its genres under one roof in the UFA Fiction, UFA Serial Drama, UFA Show & Factual and UFA Documentary units. UFA is part of the international production company Fremantle, the global production arm of RTL Group. A company with a long tradition and based in Potsdam-Babelsberg, UFA was founded in 1917 and now has five locations across Germany. The company’s CEO is Sascha Schwingel.