Each year, the Retrospective of the Berlin International Film Festival devotes itself to showcasing an important director or a topic relevant to film history. Organised by the Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen since 1977, this popular Berlinale section often gives younger viewers a first look at the oeuvre of a filmmaker, an epoch or a genre in a larger context, and provides confirmed cineastes with unexpected discoveries.Entitled “The Red Dream Factory. Mezhrabpom-Film a...

The film [programme note by Kristin Thompson] Der Golem is a classic film – doubly so. First, it has long nestled comfortably within the list of titles that make up the German Expressionist movement of the 1920s. Teachers of survey history courses are more likely to show Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, but a serious enthusiast will make a point of seeing Der Golem as well. From the start, reviewers recognized Der Golem as Expressionist. In 1921 the New York Times’ critic wrote, “Resembl...