Opening night. Cinema-concert: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (restored version)

Source: Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, Wiesbaden

On Sunday May 31 at 19 pm at Teatro Colón, the (S8) is going to hold its opening gala and, as always, it is a luxury. No more and no less than the screening, live soundtrack by the renowned German pianist and composer Eunice Martins, of the flawless restoration of the German Expressionism touchstone: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Tickets are already on sale at the box office of Teatro Colón and Afundación, and also online at ataquilla.com.

Source: Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, Wiesbaden

The film

First (and groundbreaking) manifestation of German Expressionism, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is one of the key works of film history. Behind the chiaroscuro and the twisted scenes of the horror story directed by Robert Wiene at UFA studios, the screenwriters Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer slipped a critique to the people who use men as killing machines –they had just come from the First World War-, in a film that, according to the theorist Siegfried Kracauer, was a premonition of the advent of Nazism. Under the appearance of a hallucinatory dream, we know the disturbing Dr. Caligari, who comes to the fair in a town with a very special attraction: the somnambulist Cesare, divining the future. When a series of mysterious murders begin to happen among the population, the effort of a man will lead on the trail of Caligari, who is not who appears to be, and who hides more than a terrible secret.

Source: Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, Wiesbaden

Restoration

Watching a 1920 silent movie as if it were filmed yesterday fosters, if possible, the perception of modernity and strength, as well as it brings it closer. That is what this superb digital restoration makes. Each frame was scanned to the highest quality and was cleaned to reveal every detail tarnished by time. The lost frames were also rebuilt in a meticulous process that revives the fluidity of movement on stage. A restoration made by The Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung in collaboration with the Federal Film Archive of Berlin and  L’Immagine Ritrovata – Film Conservation & Restoration, Bologna, with the support of Bertelsmann.

Music: Eunice Martins

The soundtrack of the film, composed and performed live by the pianist Eunice Martins, is the icing on the cake that makes this screening a single event. Martins, who is also a theater and film sound designer, has been the resident pianist at Kino Arsenal, Berlin, since 2000. An international renown professional who has taken her talents to events such as the festival of Hong Kong, Il Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna, Jornada do Cinema Silencioso in Sao Paulo and the Berlinale, and institutions such as the National Theater in Taipei, Taiwan and the Louvre Auditorium.

Mini (S8) Rhythms, Sounds and Melodies. Creating Soundtracks for Silent Films. Workshop for children and youth

Next May 30 Eunice Martins with Rogelio Groba’s support will give a workshop at the MAC – Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Gas Natural Fenosa. After that, children aged 12 to 16 will perform a live soundtrack for the screening of the silent movie Viaje a Júpiter by Segundo de Chomón. Open registration.

Date: May 30, 2015

Location: MAC Museum of Contemporary Art Gas Natural Fenosa

Workshop hours: 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Public presentation and screening: 7:30 p.m.

Students: children aged 12 to 16

Limited capacity: 20 students

Cost of tuition: 15 euros

Language: English

Experience: not required (although it is recommended to have had any contact with music or play an instrument)

Presentation

The workshop is about participating in the joint composition of a soundtrack for a silent movie, a creative experience that will offer the opportunity to discover the different approaches to the relationship among image, sound and music.

Designing the sound of a movie, producing and composing a soundtrack, is an easy and difficult task at the same time. How can be the worlds and secrets of image turned into music and sounds reaching our ears?

During the three hours this workshop takes, we will investigate the sound characteristics of the instruments and their sound bodies and relate them to a silent movie. In this way we will create music streams and soundscapes for the movie, and we will practice with our instruments and finally we will play them in a live showing.

Program

1. Brief introduction to the history of film overdubbing

2. Screening and analysis of the film Viaje a Júpiter by Segundo de Chomón, 1909

4. Choice of instruments and research on their sound features

5. Creation, development and testing of sound compositions for film footage

After the workshop, the students will play the soundtrack they will create for Viaje a Júpiter in an open public screening.

Eunice Martins (Berlin 1965) is a pianist, specialist musician in improvisation and composer. She studied at the University of Arts in Berlin and the Wiesbaden Music School. She has been a pianist at Kino Arsenal -Institute for Film and Video Art in Berlin– since 2000. Martins is an international renowned professional in Asia, America and Europe. She is a sound designer for film and theater, and has created various sound installations. She also teaches at several universities in Germany and France, and has lectured on film and music/sound in Hong Kong, New Delhi, Sao Paulo and Shanghai, among others. Her teaching include lectures, workshops and composition and sound projects for children and teenagers in Berlin and Brussels.

Rogelio Groba is a violinist and director of the Galician Chamber Orchestra who will participate as a support teacher. He studied at the Conservatory of Music of A Coruna, the Conservatory of Music of Oviedo, and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Groba has achieved great success worldwide and has been director of the Symphony Orchestra of the Conservatory of Music of A Coruña. Besides being director-concertmaster of the Galician Chamber Orchestra, he is a supporter of Rogelio Groba Groba Foundation and Senior Lecturer in Violin and Chamber Music at the Conservatory of Music of A Coruña.

Students

All those children and teens interested in music and its film importance. Registration is open for music students as well as any child interested in music, film and sound. The workshop is taught in English. Those participants who play an instrument should bring it.

Registrations

Until May 27 handling the application form filled with the cost of the tuition in cash in the reception desk of the MAC in their openin hours. At the time of registration it is required to know if the student plays an instrument, what it is and if it can be brought to the workshop.

All the information and applications here.