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Returning in 2008 is another selection of classic silent cinema presented with newly composed scores by emerging SA musicians. With a focus on live performance in 2008, each soundtrack will be performed by the artists on stage as the film flickers behind them on the big screen. The Silent ReMasters program has been specifically created to foster the development of musicians looking to work in the film industry.

Dir: Carl Boese & Paul Wegener
Germany 1920 69mins 16mm
A Rabbi in 16th-century Prague creates a man made from clay known as a Golem, and animates the creature in order to protect the Jews of the city from persecution. But the Golem is exploited by the Rabbi’s assistant for his own selfish needs, bidding him to kidnap the Rabbi’s beautiful daughter.  Based on the Hebrew legend, this classic example of German Expressionism bears many similarities with Frankenstein.

Print courtesy of the
National Film and Sound Archive

Preceded by Georges Melies silent short A Trip to the Moon (1902)

Short listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.

The soundtrack to Der Golem has been re-mastered by Daniel Varricchio – an established solo performer of experimental and progressive music and nominee of this year’s SA Short Screen Award for Best Composition for his soundtrack to the film, Hole in the Water. Utilising guitar, voice and electro-acoustic devices, Daniel creates an environment of shifting sounds where melodic information and noise are allowed equal opportunity to flourish.

Dir: Sergei Eisenstein
USSR 1924 81mins 16mm
In Eisenstein’s feature film debut, factory workers in pre-revolutionary Russia strike against their inhuman working conditions. Eschewing individualism, the masses are presented as a collective hero as they fight against repression. Famous for its cross-cutting finale where the violent quelling of the insurrection is likened to the slaughter of cattle. A constructivist approach is evident in the way machinery is represented not as dominating the workers but as being enlisted by them in the struggle.

Print courtesy of the
National Film and Sound Archive

Preceded by the silent short The Great Train Robbery (1903)

Feature and short listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

SA’s EMU Ensemble will perform their re-mastered soundtrack to the film Strike live on Dec 4.  The ensemble comprises six talented and highly qualified musicians associated with the Electronic Music Unit (EMU) at Elder Conservatorium – Stephen Whittington (composer/pianist), Derek Pascoe (saxophone), Chris Martin (keyboard), Luke Harrald (composer/performer), Fleur Green (percussion) and Ian Dixon (trumpet).

Dir: Robert J. Flaherty
US 1922 65mins 16mm
Considered to be the first feature-length documentary, this ground-breaking work of cinema sought to capture the exotic Inuit culture in this compelling story of Nanook and his family struggling against the harshness of nature. Although many of the sequences were revealed to be staged, as much due to the technical limitations of the time, traditional Inuit customs as well as methods of hunting, fishing and igloo-building were depicted with accuracy.

Print courtesy of the
National Film and Sound Archive

Preceded by the Buster Keaton silent short The Frozen North (1922)

Short listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

The ground-breaking documentary Nanook of the North will be re-mastered by a pair of young musicians – Luc Steinberg and Emily Davis – who perform as Grand Narrative. Luc has been producing hip hop and experimental electronic music for the last five years and Emily is a singer/songwriter who released her debut album Moving in Slow Motion last year. The pair scored their first short film Daniel a few months ago.