Secrets of a Soul

On the initiative of the magazine Panorama-cinéma and in partnership with the Goethe-Institut, we present a substantial cycle of around twenty screenings dedicated to the filmmaker Georg Wilhelm Pabst. In addition to his legendary silent films (Loulou, La rue sans joie) and some new restorations, we have also unearthed several rarely shown films from our collections which testify to the richness of an all-out filmography, accompanying the tribulations of his time, for better or for worse. This major cycle is accompanied by a book co-published with Panorama-cinema, with the support of the Goethe-Institut.

Keeping silent cinema alive, by offering audiences a chance to rediscover films from the era with the accompaniment of talented pianists, is an essential component of the Cinémathèque's programming. As digital technology continues to invent new ways of creating images, it is more relevant than ever to remember how eloquent the images from the so-called silent era of film history truly were. It's fascinating to see how much these works and filmmakers contributed to modern cinema – not to mention that it is always a pleasure to return, for a few hours, to the era of images that speak for themselves.