SUNRISE: A SONG OF TWO HUMANS Guest Artistic Director

Studio head William Fox offered F. W. Murnau complete artistic freedom when he brought the German director to the United States after the filmmaker’s critical triumphs, THE LAST LAUGH (1924) and FAUST (1926). SUNRISE: A SONG OF TWO HUMANS, which contains few explanatory and dialogue titles, continues Murnau’s experiments in purely visual storytelling, and conveys its simplified narrative in three symphonic movements that represent betrayal, atonement and trial. Overtly expressionistic in its art direction and performances, audiences of the time found it hard to accept the highly stylized performances of all-American players O’Brien and Gaynor, but the newly formed Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized SUNRISE for its “Unique and Artistic Production” at the first Oscar® ceremony in 1929.