BERLIN - From February 14 to 21, donât miss this four of a kind series of live-to-Chaplin-film concerts at BABYLON, where the Babylon Orchester Berlin will perform the scores from The Circus, Modern Times, The Gold Rush (4K restored version), and City Lights!
Photographer Lorenzo Burlando captured the atmosphere at Piazza Maggiore during the 100th anniversary screening of The Gold Rush, presented by Roy Export SAS (the Chaplin Office) and mk2 Films, in a new 4K restoration by the Cineteca di Bologna and LâImmagine Ritrovata showcased at Il Cinema Ritrovato 2025. See more photos on Facebook.
The screening took place on 26 June 2025âthe exact date of the filmâs original premiere 100 years ago. Thousands gathered in the square as Chaplinâs timeless classic returned to the big screen, its appeal undiminished.
The live score, adapted, arranged and conducted by Timothy Brock, was brilliantly performed by the Orchestra of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna â a remarkable rendition of the score Chaplin composed for the 1942 reissue.
Gian Luca Farinelli, director of the Cineteca di Bologna, introduced the film, presenting a stereoscopic image of the Chilkoot Pass, one of Chaplinâs key inspirations for The Gold Rush.
Carmen Chaplin, her husband Ashim Bhalla, and their daughter Uma were in attendance, pictured alongside Arnold Lozano, director of the Chaplin Office.
Thanks to the BFI National Archive, Blackhawk Films and the Lobster Films Collection, Das Bundesarchiv, Filmoteca de Catalunya, George Eastman Museum, and MoMA for their contributions to the restoration.
Special thanks to Cineteca di Bologna and LâImmagine Ritrovata, and to mk2 for their continued collaboration. Viva il cinema, viva Charlot!
Celebrate 100 years of The Gold Rush â watch the official trailer:
To mark the 100th anniversary of The Gold Rush, the newly restored 4K version of Charlie Chaplinâs silent classic will be released in cinemas worldwide on June 26, 2025 â exactly a century after its original premiere at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles.
Following its prestigious opening at Cannes Classics 2025, the film has already been confirmed for over 500 screenings in 70 countries, coordinated by mk2 films with the support of the Chaplin Office.
Among the many international highlights of the centenary celebrations is a special open-air screening in Piazza Maggiore, Bologna, with live accompaniment by the Orchestra of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, conducted by Timothy Brock, during this yearâs Il Cinema Ritrovato Festival.
The Chaplin Office and mk2 Films are excited to announce that a newly restored 4K version of Charlie Chaplinâs silent-era classic The Gold Rush will have its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, launching the Cannes Classics section on May 13, ahead of a coordinated global centennial release.
The 1925 masterpieceâwritten, directed, produced by and starring Chaplin as the iconic Trampâwill screen on the Croisette nearly 100 years to the day after its original premiere at the Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles. The Cannes showing marks the start of a coordinated international rollout, with over 250 screenings scheduled across 70 countries on June 26, exactly one century after the filmâs debut.
The new restoration draws from elements held by Roy Export, including materials originally prepared for Kevin Brownlow and David Gillâs 1993 reconstruction, enhanced by materials sourced from archives around the world, including the BFI National Archive, Blackhawk Films and The Lobster Films Collection, Das Bundesarchiv, Filmoteca de Catalunya, George Eastman Museum, and MoMA â Museum of Modern Art. The work was carried out by Cineteca di Bologna and LâImmagine Ritrovata. The music, originally composed by Charles Chaplin in 1942, was adapted, arranged, and conducted by Timothy Brock for this restoration of the 1925 version of the film, and performed by Orchestra CittĂ Aperta.
âWeâve been working on Chaplinâs oeuvre for nearly thirty years,â said Gian Luca Farinelli. âThis restoration brings us closer than ever to the filmâs original release in 1925.â
Arnold Lozano added: âWe are delighted to see this centennial release made possible through our long-standing collaboration with mk2 Films, Cineteca di Bologna and LâImmagine Ritrovata, ensuring that audiences worldwide can rediscover the film with unparalleled clarity. Audiences will experience the filmâs rich detail, emotional depth, and its perfect blend of adventure, comedy and romance on the big screen like never before.â
A new international poster has also been unveiled, paying tribute to the enduring image of the Tramp and introducing the film to a new generation of audiences.
We are delighted to announce that THE GREAT DICTATOR (1940), Chaplinâs visionary satire that marked history, will be presented for the first time with live orchestral accompaniment on June 23rd at the Teatro dellâOpera di Romaâs outdoor summer venue, the ancient Roman ruins of the Baths of Caracalla, located in central Rome. For this world premiere, Timothy Brock will conduct the Orchestra dellâOpera di Romaâs performance of his new painstaking restoration of the original score, commissioned by the Chaplin Office. Brock previously restored twelve other Chaplin film scores.
Composed by Chaplin himself with musical associate Meredith Willson, the score not only features Chaplinâs signature musical style, but also the unforgettable music of Richard Wagner and Johannes Brahms. Willson remarked, âI have never met a man who devoted himself so completely to the ideal of perfection as Charlie Chaplin. [âŠ] I was constantly amazed at his attention to details, his feeling for the exact musical phrase or tempo to express the mood he wanted⊠Always he is seeking to ferret out every false note however minor from film or musicâ.
THE GREAT DICTATOR was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Original Score in 1941.
Brock will also conduct a live-to-film concert of THE GREAT DICTATOR at the Ravenna Festival on July 21st, thanks to agent MAMUSIC.
For a film concert near you, see our regularly-updated list of screenings with live orchestra for more dates and different film titles in other countries.
THE CHAPLIN STUDIO TOUR
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2021, 12:00 noon PST
Between 1918 and 1952, Charlie Chaplin made films at his studio at Sunset Blvd. and La Brea in Hollywood. Masterpieces like The Kid, The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Timesâall made on this site! In 1952, on his way to the UK for the premiere of Limelight, Chaplin, a lifelong British subject, got word that his US re-entry permit had been rescinded. Chaplin became a victim of scurrilous Senator Joe McCarthyâs Red Scareâthe FBI branding him as one of âHollywoodâs parlor Bolsheviksââalong with other great artists of the time. Chaplin settled in Switzerland where he lived until his death in 1977, returning to the US only onceâin 1972 when he accepted an honorary award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
On Sunday, February 7, 2021âthe 107th anniversary of the debut of Charlie Chaplinâs Little Tramp characterâKate Guyonvarch, managing director of the Chaplin Office in Paris, will narrate the Chaplin Studio Tour, footage of the abandoned studio shot circa 1953. Recently restored by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in collaboration with the Chaplin Office/Roy Export S.A.S. and Lobster Films, the film shows Chaplinâs cameraman Rollie Totheroh escorting Kathryn Reed (the future wife of Robert Altman) around the studio.
Register now for this FREE online event with the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.
