UK Premiere: Großstadtschmetterling (Pavement Butterfly)

Frustrated by the typecasting she faced in Hollywood, pioneering Chinese American actress Anna May Wong found true stardom and creative freedom in Europe, where she made several of her finest pictures, from E. A. Dupont’s Piccadilly (1929) to this little-seen rediscovered gem, the second in three films with German director Richard Eichberg following Schmutziges Geld Song (1928).

Pavement Butterfly opens with Mah (Anna May Wong), an exotic Parisian dancer credited as being “the world-famous Princess Butterfly”. Mah soon finds out that she has been framed for a crime she didn’t commit and flees into the streets of Paris. She encounters an impoverished Russian painter Fedja Kusmin (Fred Louis Lerch) and starts a love affair which takes her to the French Riviera. Wong's nuanced performance reveals a woman fighting for agency, while breathtaking cinematography makes this one of the era's most visually stunning silent films.

A 4K digital restoration by DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum; courtesy Beta Film.

Presented by South West Silents.

• Special offers:

  Booking for more than 10 events/screenings?


  Buy a Cinema Rediscovered Festival Pass (£120 full / £100 concessions / £80 24 and under) and select your tickets for as many of the 80+ screenings and events during the festival as you want.

  Booking for between 4 to 10 events/screenings?


  Multi-Ticket Package Offer: get 20% off the regular ticket price when you book 4-10 Cinema Rediscovered screenings and/or events. The discount will automatically apply when you add the tickets to your basket.

  Club Shed members get 20% off all individual Cinema Rediscovered tickets.

---