Westfront 1918
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.
The life and death of four German infantrymen on the front line of the First World War through a moving film, full of shocking and realistic scenes such as the one where men are buried alive by the bombing. The denunciation of the war by a convinced pacifist.
Excerpt in German, the film will be presented in French
Georg Wilhelm Pabst
Georg Wilhelm Pabst (1885 - 1967) was an Austrian director, screenwriter and producer. He started out as an actor and theater director, before becoming one of the most influential German-language filmmakers in the Weimar Republic.
Explore
Westfront 1918 by Georg Wilhelm Pabst | Courtesy of The Criterion Collection
Westfront 1918 by Georg Wilhelm Pabst | Courtesy of The Criterion Collection
Westfront 1918 by Georg Wilhelm Pabst | Courtesy of The Criterion Collection
Westfront 1918 by Georg Wilhelm Pabst | Courtesy of The Criterion Collection
For an early talkie (and Pabst’s first), “Westfront” is notably fluid. The camera is highly mobile and the director makes skillful use of long takes — although portions of the brilliantly extended, existential battle sequences are filmed with a fixed camera. “Westfront” is also notable for its creative sound editing, expanding space through offscreen sound, creating sound bridges using artillery fire that extends from one shot to another and even devising audio match cuts, between cries and whizzing shells.
(New York Times, 2018)
Presented in collaboration with
