Truly a master of light and shadows, F. W. Murnau (1888-1931) created a total of 21 films in his short life, and of these, 12 survive to this day. The Harvard Film Archive, in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Boston and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is proud to present a retrospective of this influential German expressionist director. F.W. Murnau not only exploited new filming techniques such as the use of negative exposure, stop-motion and low angle camera positions, but also made pioneering achievements in terms of film settings, choosing to film both in studios (Faust, The Last Laugh) and on location (Nosferatu, Sunrise). Along with G.W. Pabst, Robert Wiene and Fritz Lang, he established German expressionism as arguably the most significant movement of the silent film era. Working with the best cinematographers and set designers of his time, including Fritz Arno Wagner, Karl Freund, Karl Hoffmann, Walter Rohrig and Hermann Warm, Murnau crafted a body of work which penetrates deeply into the psychic world of his characters and constructs a remarkably distinct cinematic universe.

Program notes adapted from the Hong Kong Film Archive.

This program is co-presented with the Goethe-Institut Boston and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (www.mfa.org/film). Special thanks to Eric Rentschler, Sabrina Kovatsch, Transit Film, Gudrun Weiss, Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, Jutta Albert, Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv and Stefan Drössler, Filmmuseum Munich.