“Die Oper ist Zauberei – Opera is magic”, said Gustav Rudolf Sellner, the first artistic director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, which opened in 1961. The same applies to film - images are created from light and time that open a window into the past and give viewers the opportunity to relive contemporary history. The historical film programme on the website and the film projections on the façade of the Deutsche Oper Berlin restaurant bring the creation of the new building back to life every evening, from the construction work to the ceremonial opening.

Christine Kisorsy (*1968 in New York), through whose loving archival research these films have now been rediscovered, works at the intersection of the visual art forms of photography and film with themes such as history, architecture and urban space in a museum and artistic context.

Watch three historical TV-features in the top section of this page with photos and videos from 24 September 2021, 7.00 p.m.
© Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, rbb-media
Idea and concept: Christine Kisorsy

Aktuelles Magazin from 25 September 1961
Friedrich Luft in conversation with Carl Ebert, Gustav Rudolf Sellner and Ferenc Fricsay

Berliner Abendschau of 28 October 1961
Interview with Hans Uhlmann about the sculpture for the Deutsche Oper Berlin

Berliner Abendschau of 30 September 1963
Interview with architect Fritz Bornemann on the façade of the Deutsche Oper Berlin

On the façade above the Deutsche Oper restaurant you can see every evening until 3 October 2021.
"New start 1961" - 60 years of Deutsche Oper Berlin in the Bornemann Building

Idea and concept: Christine Kisorsy
© Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, rbb-media
© Landesarchiv Berlin / Film Collections