Metropolis | Fritz Lang | Martin Matalon

Metropolis is one of the greatest films in cinematic history. It is the first ever film to be inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register. This expressionist silent film, the fantastic utopian vision of filmmaker Fritz Lang, depicts life in a futurist city with a manifest two-tiered society. First screened on 10th January 1927, the three hour long film premiere fell flat with the audience and critics alike, which is why a shortened version was shown in Germany. Around a quarter of the original material was destroyed. Since 1961 many attempts have been made to restore the original version and yet freeze frames and commentary still replaced missing material in the reconstructed version from 2001. It only became possible to almost entirely fill in earlier gaps thanks to a copy of the film discovered in Buenos Aires in 2008. This version, restored by the Murnau-Stiftung, celebrated its acclaimed premiere at the Berlinale in Berlin on 12th February 2010. The Argentine composer, Martin Matalón wrote a new soundtrack to Metropolis in 1995 under commision by IRCAM Paris. The result is an extremely colourful music, not far from jazz, that exploits the rhythmical structure of the film to build a contrapuntal network between images and sound. Now he has adapted his score to the as yet most complete, newly reconstructed version of the film.