NEWLY UPDATED!! Today's Premiere Of The METROPOLIS Restoration!! Is This A Live Feed??

Merrick again, again... Below you'll find an embed featuring a countdown to a "live feed" from the impending METROPOLIS premiere. In researching this matter over the last few days, I've noticed that such "feeds"/embeds tend to spool-up as if they're gonna work...and even serve you commercials and display ads leading into the program they're about to show...before aborting the feed with a message saying something to the effect of: "Live Feed is not available in your country." I'm presuming this is because they don't have broadcast rights/streaming rights into North America. As such, I fully expect this stream to belly-up right about the time METROPOLIS is set to unfold - so don't get your hopes up too high. But, just in case some sort of miracle awaits, here it is...

The above embed originates HERE. I'd like to offer a big shout-out to Richard for pointing us towards this, and express my gratitude once more to all our readers...particularly our overseas audience...who wrote in about the METROPOLIS premiere throughout the week. You've all been great.

Merrick again... Roger Ebert has posted two links through which ARTE TV's coverage of tomorrow's METROPOLIS premiere...coverage that will include an airing of the restored movie itself (as referenced below)...will supposedly be streamed & viewable in North America. You can find said links through THIS PAGE on his very fine blog. It should be noted that we've received close to 100 e-mails regarding whether or not the restored METROPOLIS will be streamed over The Net in a way that'll be viewable in North America tomorrow - none of our overseas readers could find any indication that Friday's event/premiere broadcast would actually be available to folks here in The States (with the exception of the recording services and other means referenced below). But, with several countries and at least two languages involved in covering this, there's certainly a margin for error. That said, I'm desperately, excitedly hoping that Roger's people are 100% right about this...because I want all of us to be able to see this movie tomorrow. The unveiling of this restored version is truly a remarkable moment in the histories of both science fiction & cinema in general, and being a part of it...even in such a remote manner...would truly be unforgettable. So, check the link to Roger's blog (above) and...if you have the time or freedom to do so tomorrow...tune in at the specified times to see what happens. Here's hoping we'll be rewarded. Best of luck...! >>>ORIGINAL STORY FOLLOWS<<<

Merrick here...
A few days ago I posted a call for details about tomorrow's premiere of the restored METROPOLIS (HERE). First off, I wanted to thank everyone who took the time to send in information about the event - we really appreciate your time, effort, translation, and feedback. All were enormously insightful. In short, it appears initial reports of being able to see the METROPOLIS restoration via an internet stream are not entirely accurate - they're probably an understandable confusion rising from two factors: the event will be piped to audiences outside of a theater where the new version is debuting, and an an artsy television station will broadcast the restored METROPOLIS - in HD no less!!! - at the same time it is being premiered. Details on this TV broadcast can be found below. This leaves precious few options for American enthusiasts : 1) Wait until the restoration hits DVD & Blu-Ray later this year... 2) Find someone who can record the program for you overseas... 3) There are a few online services which might enable you to snag the broadcast if you happen to live in the right place, or can manage to sludge your way through the process - THIS PLACE, for example. Below, you'll find a sampling of the messages we received that'll tell you quite a bit about tomorrow's premiere. Perhaps this will help you to find a way to see it for yourself?
This reader prefers to remain anonymous, but his information is interesting:

The film will be premieres simultaneoulsy in premieres in Berlin and Frnakfurt. Both will be accompanied by full orchestras playing the original score. The film will also be shown at the same time on a big screen at Berlin;s famous Brandenburg Gate. But most interestingly for everyone, the film will also be broadcast across Germany (simultaneously) in full HD on Germany's ARTE-HD channgel. The audio will be the live streaming of the Berlin orchestra. Pretty cool, huh? It's a huge event in Germany this Friday. As for the restored film. It is probably as close as we'll ever get to the full three and a half hour version that premiered in Berlin in 1927. The print found in Argentina has supplied more than 30 minutes that were butchered by the studio more than 80 years ago and were thought lost up to now. A few seconds are still missing because a scene that was on the end of one of the reels was too badly damaged to restore. But other than that, it is complete and on Friday we'll be the first people to see it since that audience filed into the special metal-clad building in Berlin in 1927 for the premiere.

Andrew says...

Anyway, as you wrote , this Friday 12. Feb the German/French Channel "ARTE" is showing the restored Metropolis live from 20:15. This is in itself cool, but via Satalite the Channel ARTE is also broadcast is HD! Aint that cool :). This is a free channel so anyone able to "tune in" can do. The Satellite that you need to tune into is the Astra Satellite over here in Europe.

Tobi sent in the following:

Seems there is no direct stream planned for Metropolis, but the new restored Version is shown on german/ french TV-Station arté simultaniosly to the screenings, wich means 20:40 CET. And here comes the good News. arté can be viewed online via the streaming plattform PlayTV will allow viewers to see an ARTE feed, but it won't show it ot folks in the U.S. Again, maybe it'll work in your country? (thanks for this link, folks!)

These fascinating details came in from my man Grammaton:

arte is a cultural and arts based european community free tv channel, mainly driven by germany and france - the station is also known as a rarely insiders tip for real movie fans, if they show a big movie...always directors cut, without advertisement or commercial brakes the murnau foundation is responsible for the restauration and conservation of the german movie culture (complete list of movies can be found HERE). also nice: complete poster list, sorted alphabetically, just click a letter and be happy HERE.) metropolis will not only be shown in berlin, what can be also seen on "arte", it will be shown same time in frankfurt berlin is only the "beta" event, the real "alpha" event is in frankfurt in the "alte-oper" ("old opera" ) place of restauration (wiesbaden) and alte oper (frankfurt) is only about 30 mins by car and the "alte oper" is a very famous building in europe, which is definetly the perfect location for showing such a classic in frankfurt the ORIGINAL PARTION will be played by this orchestra THIS ORCHESTRA. the lost film material where finally delivered to place of restauration (wiesbaden) on the 6th of july 2009 on 8:30 am restaurated movie poster can be seen HERE. the puzzle work of inserting the many cut scenes was done by a comparison to the already in 2001 restaurated version of the movie version everybody knows main part of the puzzle was done by combining the working progresses "adaption" and "reconstruction" focused on the music so the original music partition was more helpfull than any scripts or cutcards by its length of each partition and also dramaturgy compared to the specific scene regarding the optical matters.....they where always in 3-person teams producing a "work-in-progress" copy of the film the digital restauration where done by FIVE different external (non foundation) companies with different techniques and even more important: philosophies each of them used different techniques - in a blancing act all tried to avoid digital artefacts by diggin' to deep into the film material cause they played the lost version over decades in buenos aires, you can still see in the restaurated version damages that got copied while they transfered it from 35mm to 16mm-dub-negative the german government financed it additionally with 200.000 euros it will be also shown in german tv, and will be sold on dvd and bluray later this year there are still some scenes missing and are still searched for sorry that was all i could do while i am still in office regards and keep on grammaton

The restoration poster Grammaton links out to above is really cool! Finally, this message from Michael reveals some satellite info:

1) The movie will have its premiere at the Friedrichsstadtpalast in Berlin 2) This premiere will be broadcast live at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin 3) German/French TV station Arte will show the premiere gala and then at 8.40 PM CET will show the new version of the movie. I am not sure if this will only be available on the German language version of the channel or also on the French language version. ARTE should be viewable by many European viewers on the Astra 19,2° east or Eutelsat Hotbird 13° east satellite, as well as some others found at this link. According to www.areadvd.de Metropolis will also be shown on the Arte HD channel.

So, essentially, it's gonna be pretty damn tricky for anyone outside of Germany and maybe France to see METROPOLIS tomorrow. If you're one of the lucky few, please send us your feedback, thoughts, feelings, etc. about what you've looked upon. If you're attending the events in person (I have one guy who is - lucky bastard), be sure to write in & share your experiences with the world. More restoration material is available HERE.
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