F.W. Murnau’s Silent Classic ‘Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans’ Opens Italy’s Il Cinema Ritrovato Festival With Definitive Restoration and Live Orchestra

By Nick Vivarelli

Nick Vivarelli

International Correspondent

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The definitive restoration of F.W. Murnau’s silent classic “Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans” opened the 40th edition of Italy’s Il Cinema Ritrovato Festival on Saturday, with some 7,000 spectators packing Bologna’s Piazza Maggiore square to catch the 1927 masterpiece accompanied by a new score performed live by the Teatro Comunale di Bologna orchestra.

The San Francisco Film Preserve initiated this 35mm restoration and undertook the 4K digital restoration that allows audiences to view “Sunrise” in a way that very closely resembles its original appearance, nearly a century after the movie became a multiple winner at the first-ever Academy Awards.

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