Summary

NAME: ARG METROPOLIS 20080704E TAPE: EF08/0688 IN_TIME: 10:28:43:19 DURATION: 00:02:39:06 SOURCES: AP TELEVISION DATELINE: Buenos Aires, 4 July 2008 RESTRICTIONS: SHOTLIST 1 Wide of Museum exterior 2 Wide of news conference 3 SOUNDEBITE: (Spanish) Hernan Lombardi, Buenos Aires Minister of Culture: Metropolis was in the Museum of Cinema in Buenos Aires, as you know - and as Paula (the museum's director) is going to tell us, the copy (of the film) that came to Buenos Aires at the end of 1920s wasn't the same copy that was sold on the international market and in the US This copy preserved some additional original scenes, material that was lost over time in the rest of the world but was found in Buenos Aires 4 Various scenes taken from the lost footage 5 SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Paula Felix-Didier, Director of Buenos Aires' Museum of Cinema: Metropolis was a movie released in Germany 1926 and in Buenos Aires in 1928 The distribution company, Terra, which released the movie in Buenos Aires, brought the original 1926 copy from Germany so Buenos Aires had the same copy that was released in Germany in 1926 1927 really 6 Scenes taken from the lost footage 7 SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Paula Felix-Didier, Director of Buenos Aires' Museum of Cinema: I sent an email to Enno Patalas (film historian), to the Murnau Foundation who now own the movie rights I sent mails to German cinema institute And they didn't believe me because they have had lots of emails from people saying they had found Metropolis Why would people in Buenos Aires have found it? 8 Various of journalists sitting in news conference 9 Scenes taken from the lost footage LOST SCENES OF 'METROPOLIS' FOUND IN ARGENTINA Lost scenes from the sci-fi classic Metropolis, recently discovered in the archives of a Buenos Aires museum, were shown to journalists for the first time in decades on Thursday A long-lost original cut of the 1927 silent film sat for 80 years in a private collection and then in the Museum of Cinema in Buenos Aires, where it was discovered in April with scratched images that hadn't been seen before Museum director Paula Felix-Didier said theirs is the only copy of German director Fritz Lang's complete film Metropolis, written by Lang and his actress wife Thea von Harbou, depicts a 21st century world divided between a class of underworld workers and the thinkers above who control them Soon after its initial release at the height of Germany's Weimar Republic, distributors cut Lang's three-and-a-half-hour masterpiece into the shorter version since viewed by millions worldwide But a private collector carried an original version to Argentina in 1928, where it has stayed, Felix-Didier said The distribution company, Terra, which released the movie in Buenos Aires, brought the original 1926 copy from Germany so Buenos Aires had the same copy that was released in Germany in 1926 1927 really, she told reporters during a news conference at the museum In the 1980s, Argentine film fanatic Fernando Pena heard about a man who had propped up a broken projector for hours to screen Metropolis in the 1960s But the version of the film he knew was only one-and-a-half hours long For years, he begged Buenos Aires' museum to check their archives for the man's longer version This year, museum researchers finally agreed and in April uncovered the reels in the museum's archive In June, Felix-Didier then flew with a DVD to the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation in Wiesbaden, Germany, which owns the rights to Metropolis I sent an email to Enno Patalas (film historian), to the Murnau Foundation who now own the movie rights I sent mails to German cinema institute And they didn't believe me because they have had lots of emails from people saying they had found Metropolis Why would people in Buenos Aires have found it? said Felix-Didier Researchers there confirmed that the scenes were original News of the find excited film enthusiasts worldwide Metropolis was reissued in the US in 2002 by Kino International Corporation, which owns the rights to distribute the film domestically, Kino's general manager Gary Palmucci said Kino may re-release the new, complete version of the film, although Palmucci said it is too soon for details Meanwhile, Buenos Aires' Museum of Cinema is holding its treasure tight