Press Release | Berlin, 08/28/2025

Bertelsmann and UFA Open 15th UFA Film Nights

• Ewald André Dupont’s VARIETÉ sold out at the start of the three-day silent film festival on Berlin’s Museum Island
• Bertelsmann welcomes more than 300 guests from society and culture to a reception at Bertelsmann Unter den Linden 1 in Berlin

Berlin, August 28, 2025 – Ewald André Dupont’s drama VARIETÉ, starring the legendary actor Emil Jannings alongside Lya de Putti, Warwick Ward, Maly Delschaft, and Kurt Gerron, drew a sold-out crowd last night for the opening of the 15th UFA Film Nights. At the invitation of Bertelsmann and UFA, some 1,000 viewers watched the 1925 silent film, in a version digitally restored by the F.W. Murnau Foundation, in the Kolonnadenhof courtyard on Berlin’s Museum Island. The musical accompaniment to VARIETÉ was provided by the UFA Syncopators: Küspert & Kollegen, based on a new composition by Werner Küspert and Richard Siedhoff, who also celebrated their world premiere with this score.

Before the film screening on Museum Island, Bertelsmann and UFA welcomed around 350 guests to the rooftop terrace of Bertelsmann Unter den Linden 1. Numerous well-known actors, artists, and personages from politics and society attended the summer reception, where they were greeted by Bertelsmann Chairman & CEO Thomas Rabe and UFA CEO Sascha Schwingel.

In addition to Inka Friedrich, this year’s patron of the UFA Film Nights, Dr. Wolfram Weimer, Minister of State for Culture and Media, Sarah Wedl-Wilson, Berlin Senator for Culture and Social Cohesion, Prof. Dr. Marion Ackermann, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, directors Roland Suso Richter, David Dietl, and Philipp Stölzl, and author and journalist Friedrich Küppersbusch also attended the first silent film evening of the UFA Film Nights.

Celebrated actresses and actors also accepted the invitation from the international media, services, and education company and its subsidiary. They included Caroline Frier, Florence Kasumba, Ina Paule Klink, Ulrike Frank, Anna Stieblich, Jürgen Prochnow, Johann von Bülow, Hans-Werner Meyer, Michael Trischan, Daniel Steiner, and Martin Neuhaus.

Bertelsmann Chairman & CEO Thomas Rabe welcomed the guests, saying: “Over the past 15 years, the UFA Film Nights have become established as an open-air festival that is an integral part of Berlin’s cultural summer. Every year, we reach more than 3,000 film buffs. Over the years, 45 silent films have been screened, most of them with newly composed music and after undergoing extensive digital restoration. Supporting the digital restoration of silent films is part of Bertelsmann’s cultural commitment to film, music, and books, which we summarize under the heading Culture@Bertelsmann. This stands alongside our efforts to open up access to the Archivio Storico Ricordi, one of the world’s most important classical music archives, and our various activities related to the literary format ‘The Blue Sofa.’ All of these activities show our responsibility as a partner to creative professionals, and provide a stage for their achievements.”

Sascha Schwingel, CEO of UFA, added: “I am delighted that we were able to open this year’s UFA Film Nights with VARIETÉ – a film that continues to captivate audiences with its visual power and emotional intensity. The great response from the audience shows that people continue to be fascinated by silent films. For 15 years now, our UFA Film Nights have been sending a powerful signal that it is possible not only to preserve cinematic history, but to bring it back to life again and again.”

Pictures from yesterday evening can be found here. 

Today, the UFA Film Nights continue with Robert Wiene’s 1925 film adaptation of Richard Strauss’ opera DER ROSENKAVALIER. Strauss himself rearranged his opera music to be purely instrumental for the film and composed several new passages. The screening on Museum Island will be accompanied by the Metropolis Orchestra Berlin performing this composition by Richard Strauss in a version edited in 2006.

The UFA Film Nights 2025 will conclude on Friday with Gustav Ucicky’s DER STRÄFLING AUS STAMBUL (THE CONVICT FROM ISTANBUL). Ufa had assembled a star-studded cast for the 1929 movie, featuring Willi Forst, Paul Hörbiger, and Betty Amann, with Heinrich George in the lead role. Sponsored by Bertelsmann, the digitally restored version of the film — prepared by the F.W. Murnau Foundation — will have its world premiere at the UFA Film Nights 2025.” The multiple Grammy-nominated composer and multi-instrumentalist PC Nackt will perform his composition created especially for the film.

A few tickets for both evenings are still available at the box office.

The UFA Film Nights program at a glance

Wednesday, August 27, 2025, film starts at 9:00 p.m.
VARIETÉ (VARIETY; 1925)
Director: Ewald André Dupont
Starring Emil Jannings, Lya de Putti, Warwick Ward, Maly Delschaft, Georg John, Kurt Gerron
Production: Universum-Film AG (Erich Pommer)
Length: 82 min. Digitally restored version by the F.W. Murnau Foundation (2014)
Music: UFA Syncopators: Küspert & Kollegen based on a composition by Werner Küspert and Richard Siedhoff

Thursday, August 28, 2025, film starts at 9:00 p.m.
DER ROSENKAVALIER (1925)
Director: Robert Wiene
Starring Michael Bohnen, Huguette Duflos, Paul Hartmann, Jaque Catelain, Elly Felicie Berger, Carmen Cartellieri
Production: Pan-Film AG (Vienna)
Length: 108 min. Digitally restored and partially reconstructed version from the Filmarchiv Austria (2006)
Music: Richard Strauss based on motifs from his opera, performed by the Metropolis Orchestra Berlin

Friday, August 29, 2025, film starts at 9:00 p.m.
DER STRÄFLING AUS STAMBUL (THE CONVICT FROM ISTANBUL; 1929)
Director: Gustav Ucicky
Starring Heinrich George, Betty Amann, Paul Hörbiger, Willi Forst, Trude Hesterberg
Production: Universum-Film AG
Length: 102 min. Digitally restored version by the F.W. Murnau Foundation (2025), sponsored by Bertelsmann
Music: New composition by PC Nackt

UFA Film Nights Partners: Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation, Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, and Apleona. Media partners: Ströer, radioeins, radio3, and Maz&Movie.

About Bertelsmann
Bertelsmann is a media, services and education company with about 75,000 employees that operates in some 50 countries around the world. It includes the entertainment group RTL Group, the trade book publisher Penguin Random House, the music company BMG, the service provider Arvato Group, Bertelsmann Marketing Services, the Bertelsmann Education Group and Bertelsmann Investments, an international network of funds. The company generated revenues of €19 billion in the 2024 financial year. Bertelsmann stands for creativity and entrepreneurship. This combination promotes first-class media content and innovative service solutions that inspire customers around the world.

About UFA
UFA is one of the leading production companies for series and films, shows, and documentaries in the German-speaking world. New and long-running programs produced by UFA reach an average of more than 30 million people every week and are currently available on nearly all TV channels and streaming platforms. The creative hub brings together its full range of genres under one roof in the units UFA Fiction, UFA Serial Drama, UFA Show & Factual, UFA Documentary, and UFA Mitte. UFA is part of the international production company Fremantle, the global production arm of RTL Group. The long-established UFA was founded in 1917 and today operates from five locations across Germany. The company is headquartered in Potsdam-Babelsberg. The CEO is Sascha Schwingel. The COO is Natalie Clausen.