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, showing the films of the era at the right speed and in their original image format, and having a pianist accompany them with respect, is all part of the normal work of a film library. But at a time when electronics is offering filmmakers new ways of making their images, it is even more relevant to periodically recall how eloquent were the images of the so-called silent era of film history. Silent cinema is therefore an essential component of the Cinémathèque's programming. And it is not a bad thing to remember that these are the works and filmmakers who made modern cinema possible, not to mention that it is always pleasant to be able to return for a few hours to the era of images that speak.