Widely regarded as the first great sci-fi film, Fritz Lang’s Metropolis tells of a dystopian future ruled by the wealthy upper class and run on the sweat of the working class, who live underground. One day, Freder, the son of the city’s master, is frolicking in a pleasure garden (naturally) when he spies a beautiful woman who has brought a group of worker’s children to witness the decadent lifestyles of the rich. The woman, Maria, is quickly ushered away, but Freder is fascinated by her and escapes down to the workers’ level of the city to track her down. Having been sheltered in Metropolis’ upper echelons all his life, Freder is horrified to see the conditions the workers live in. He and Maria band together to bring about a revolution.

A source of inspiration for countless sci-fi films to follow, Metropolis’ German Expressionist style is a sight to behold, with its layers of spires and towers, elevated highways, steaming pipes and monstrous machinery devouring workers in gaping jaws. On its initial release, Metropolis was heavily edited by the studios and the original cut was lost for decades. It wasn’t until 2008 that film experts in Berlin announced that a 16mm original cut of the film had been discovered in Buenos Aires. Soon after, an Australian historian came out saying that he had also discovered a print of the film in New Zealand three years earlier. Thanks to significant restoration work on both prints, the complete cut of Metropolis is finally able to be seen today.