In a gesture that could help ease relations between Norway and China, strained since the awarding of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to the imprisoned democracy advocate Liu Xiaobo, the National Library of Norway has returned a long-lost Chinese silent film.
A print of “The Cave of the Silken Web,” released in 1927 during a vibrant era in Chinese filmmaking, was discovered in the library’s archives in 2011. It is believed to be the only existing copy of the film, which was directed by Dan Duyu and is based on an episode from the Chinese classic novel “Journey to the West.”
Roger Josevold, the acting national librarian, presented the restored film to the China Film Archive in Beijing on Tuesday, according to the National Library of Norway’s website. The government-affiliated archive documents Chinese film history and preserves and restores classic films.
Read more: Sinosphere
