Arnold Fanck made his first full-length fiction film, DER BERG DES SCHICKSALS, in 1924, covering all the essential roles himself, as photographer, screenwriter, director, editor and producer, with the exception of the acting. To do so he started not from the screenplay, but from the images. He first filmed an enormous quantity of footage and then proceeded to assemble as much as possible together. However, the anti-conventional nature of the film came up against the prejudice of the distributors, who “demoted it” to the status of educational documentary. Nevertheless, the response from the public and critics was more than enthusiastic. The last two surviving nitrate copies of the film in Germany, today conserved in the Bundesarchiv, were digitised for Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung’s digital restoration. The complex operation was completed with the support of the Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien and “Freunde und Förderer des deutschen Filmerbes e.V“. The result is what is believed to be the most complete and accurate version of the film since the Second World War.

We thank Le Giornate del Cinema Muto / Pordenone Silent Film Festival for their cooperation