Paradoxes of autonomy

Bernd Thewes's compositions to the rhythmus-films of Hans Richter

Marion Saxer

pp. 192-207

in: Claus Tieber, Anna K. Windisch (eds), The sounds of silent films, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014

Abstract

The Franco-German TV network ARTE is the only European TV network that has dedicated a regular TV slot to showing early contributions from film history. Its monthly series Stummfilm-Rendezvous has been shown since 1997 by both Arte France and Arte Deutschland, a subsidiary of the two main public German TV networks ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen) and ARD (Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland). In these broadcasts, ARTE presents film history in its most beautiful form: by showing restored copies from the stock of international film archives. These activities are financially supported by ARTE and offer a wide public access to such films. Thanks to increasingly close cooperation, the channel is able to present trouvailles from film history — for example, films that were thought to have been lost or newly restored film classics as well as rarities which show how innovative and unorthodox early cinema really was.