The Davis Museum is closed for Wellesley College’s winter break. Please join us at our spring opening celebration on February 5, 2026, at 4 pm.
Shakespeare on the Global Silver Screen: Hamlet (1921, Dir. Asta Nielsen) *
All screenings take place in Collins Cinema beginning at 6:30pm (except where noted)
*indicates special presentation in 35mm
Presented to expand upon the special exhibition That Right Promethean Fire: Shakespeare Illustrated, this selection of six films demonstrates the sustained and diverse engagement with Shakespeare that has inspired filmmakers around the world for nearly a century.
Generously supported by the Davis Museum Film Program Gift, and co-hosted by the Cinema and Media Studies and English departments.
February 24: Hamlet (1921, Dir. Asta Nielsen)*
Asta Nielsen, born in Denmark in 1881, was the first diva of European silent film. To realize her artistic vision, she founded her own company, Art-Film, in 1920. Her production of Hamlet, produced that same year, features a female Hamlet character and initially survived only in a black-and-white US export version. A colored vintage print of the lost German original version of 1921 was discovered in 2005. The restored film had its premiere at the Berlinale in 2007, with new musical accompaniment composed by Michael Riessler (Source: Edition Filmmuseum).