This release can only be found in the following box set: Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy
Buy Physical Copy At:
Licensor Information
Cinecitta
Directed by: Roberto Rossellini
The concluding chapter of Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy is the most devastating, a portrait of an obliterated Berlin, seen through the eyes of a twelve-year-old boy. Living in a bombed-out apartment building with his sick father and two older siblings, young Edmund is mostly left to wander unsupervised, getting ensnared in the black-market schemes of a group of teenagers and coming under the nefarious influence of a Nazi-sympathizing ex-teacher. Germany Year Zero (Deutschland im Jahre Null) is a daring, gut-wrenching look at the consequences of fascism, for society and the individual.
Streaming Options
Release Information:
Technical Specifications
Format:
DVD
Disc:
DVD-9 (1 Disc)
Total: 1 Disc
Regions:
1 (DVD)
Aspect Ratio:
1.33:1
Audio Options:
German Dolby Digital Mono 1.0
Resolution:
480p/29.97
Subtitles:
English
Supplements
Types of Supplements Included: Introduction, Alternate Scene, Documentary, Q&A, Interview, Video Essay
- Video introduction by Roberto Rossellini from 1963
- The Italian release opening credits and voice-over prologue
- Roberto Rossellini, a 2001 documentary by Carlos Lizzani, assistant director on Germany Year Zero, tracing Rossellini’s career through archival footage and interviews with family members and collaborators, with tributes by filmmakers François Truffaut and Martin Scorsese
- Letters from the Front: Carlos Lizzani on “Germany Year Zero,” a podium discussion with Lizzani from the 1987 Tutto Rossellini conference
- New video interview with Rossellini scholar Adriano Aprà
- Italian directors Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani (Padre padrone) discussing the profound influence Rossellini’s films have had on them
- Roberto and Roswitha, a new illustrated essay by film scholar Thomas Meder on Rossellini’s relationship with his mistress Roswitha Schmidt
Forum Member Statistics
Sign-in with your forum account to rate this release
Film
Picture
Audio
Supplements
Artwork
Release Credits
Producer: Johanna Schiller
Artwork: Jason Hardy
Release Notes on Restoration
Germany Year Zero
Rome Open City, Paisan, and Germany Year Zero are presented in their original aspect ratio of1.33:1. On widescreen televisions, black bars will appear on the left and right of the image to maintain the proper screen format. The pictures have been slightly windowboxed to ensure that the maximum image is visible on all monitors.
For decades, the available versions of these three films have been based on later-generation elements exhibiting both physical wear and tear and printed-in dirt and damage. These defects have often been attributed to the circumstances under which the films were made, especially Rome Open City, for which Rossellini resorted to using scavenged and mismatched film stocks. This new high-definition digital transfer of Rome Open City, created on a Spirit 2K Datacine from a 35 mm fine-grain master positive, displays remarkable detail, sharpness, and image clarity.
The disastrous condition of Paisan’s materials has rendered the film virtually unavailable for decades, while Germany Year Zero has never been seen in the United States in this original version, with German opening titles and its complete and correct original-language soundtrack. These new high-definition digital transfers of both films were created on a Spirit 2K Datacine from 35 mm fine-grain master positives.
All three films required extensive digital restoration, using MTI’s DRS system and Pixel Farm’s PFClean system, to remove, by hand, dirt, debris, stains, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker. Paisan alone required more than five hundred hours of MTI machine time for more than 265,000 individual manual fixes. Digital Vision’s DVNR system was also used for fine dirt, grain, and noise reduction.
The monaural soundtracks for all three films were mastered at 24-bit from the corresponding 35mm optical tracks. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube’s integrated audio workstation.
For decades, the available versions of these three films have been based on later-generation elements exhibiting both physical wear and tear and printed-in dirt and damage. These defects have often been attributed to the circumstances under which the films were made, especially Rome Open City, for which Rossellini resorted to using scavenged and mismatched film stocks. This new high-definition digital transfer of Rome Open City, created on a Spirit 2K Datacine from a 35 mm fine-grain master positive, displays remarkable detail, sharpness, and image clarity.
The disastrous condition of Paisan’s materials has rendered the film virtually unavailable for decades, while Germany Year Zero has never been seen in the United States in this original version, with German opening titles and its complete and correct original-language soundtrack. These new high-definition digital transfers of both films were created on a Spirit 2K Datacine from 35 mm fine-grain master positives.
All three films required extensive digital restoration, using MTI’s DRS system and Pixel Farm’s PFClean system, to remove, by hand, dirt, debris, stains, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker. Paisan alone required more than five hundred hours of MTI machine time for more than 265,000 individual manual fixes. Digital Vision’s DVNR system was also used for fine dirt, grain, and noise reduction.
The monaural soundtracks for all three films were mastered at 24-bit from the corresponding 35mm optical tracks. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube’s integrated audio workstation.