Director: Walter Ruttmann, b/w, 65 min., 1927
The documentary 'Berlin: Symphony of a Great City' portrays a day in 1920s Berlin: It shows the earliest hours of the morning as well as the calm darkness at night, and the bustle and rush that characterizes the city during the day.
Walther Ruttmann is a pioneer of modern multimaedia art. His first short films are unique experiments with forms, colors, and rhythm, his innovative commercials connected abstract animation art with concrete messages. The symphonic documentary BERLIN, DIE SINFONIE DER GROSSSTADT is one of the most famous silent cassics, the travelogue Melodie der Welt became the first German sound feature film. With the radio play Weekend Ruttmann created the first "sound film without images" while his short In der Nacht transforms music to images and is a prototype of modern music videos.
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