A few decades ago, Alberto Capellani was an obscure name and very few of his films were known to survive. With the two retrospectives of his found and restored films at the Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna in 2010 and 2011, it became clear that he was a director on a level with D. W. Griffith, Louis Feuillade, and Victor Sjöström. Germinal is probably his masterpiece, one of the great films that made 1913 the annus mirabilis of early cinema. Its relatively restrained acting, gritty realism suitable to Zola’s novel, and skillfully long takes are unique for this era. It deserves to be seen on the big screen. — Kristin Thompson

Preceded by an introduction in English by Kristin Thompson.

 + GUEST