The adaptation of Gerhart Hauptmann’s drama Die Weber (The Weavers) was the most ambitious project of Friedrich Zelnik, an old hand at directing entertainment films. When Hauptmann released his play on the mid-19th century’s weaver riots in 1892, it was perceived as the first drama without individual heroes. This conceived it an ideal source for a German revolution film. The careful adaptation by Fanny Carlsen and Willy Haas aimed at “mirroring the processes of the masses in the individual” (Willy Haas). George Grosz was responsible for make-up and costumes. Whereas the intertitle’s style is still expressionistic, the editing and mise en scène are influenced by Ejzenštejn and Pudovkin and render the film an example for German filmmakers’ adaption of contemporary Russian cinema. The digital restoration by Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, Wiesbaden, bases on three contemporary distribution prints from Deutsches Filminstitut – DIF, EYE – Film Institute Netherlands, and Cinémathèque Suisse. The elements were scanned at 2K resolution and the digital image restoration was carried out in HD. Johannes Kalitzke’s orchestra score (2012) combines parodistic and genre typical elements like march or worker’s hymns with electronic sounds of weaving machines. The 2012 edition of Die Weber is a coproduction of Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, Theater Augsburg, and ZDF in collaboration with ARTE.

Anke Wilkening, Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung