TIFF.24 Cine-Concerts: A Multimedia Experience and a Show for the Entire Family

Cine-concertul este recomandat atât adulților cât și copiilor

Directed in 1928 by Charles Reisner, Steamboat Bill, Jr. is an exceptional example of Buster Keaton’s talent for physical comedy and daring stunts. The story follows William Canfield Jr. (Buster Keaton), a frail and awkward young man who returns to his hometown to join his father’s steamboat business. His father, Steamboat Bill Sr., is disappointed in his son, whom he sees as unfit for river work. Things take a comically dramatic turn when Bill Jr. falls in love with the daughter of his father's rival, sparking a series of comedic conflicts. The film’s climax features one of the most famous scenes in silent film history: during a devastating storm, the front of a building collapses onto Keaton, who escapes unscathed thanks to a perfectly positioned open window. This iconic stunt was performed without special effects.

Steamboat Bill, Jr. is considered the inspiration for Walt Disney’s Steamboat Willie (1928), released just six months later—a production that introduced Mickey Mouse to the world.

The film will be accompanied live by pianist John Sweeney, who has been composing and performing live music for silent films for nearly thirty years. Originally from New Zealand, Sweeney now lives in London. In the UK, he has performed at Riverside Studio Cinemas, the National Film Theatre, Nottingham Broadway, and the Barbican Centre. Internationally, he has appeared at prestigious festivals including Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna, Le Giornate del Cinema Muto in Pordenone, and at film events in Austria, Germany, Italy, and Slovenia.

The cine-concert is recommended for both adults and children.

Steamboat Bill, Jr. will be screened Tuesday, June 17, at 5:00 PM, at Florin Piersic Cinema.

Łukasz L.U.C. Rostkowski is one of Poland’s most innovative musicians, known for compositions that combine jazz, electronic music, hip-hop, and traditional rhythms. His shows deliver an eclectic, high-energy musical mix layered over film footage or animated paintings. In 2023, alongside the Rebel Babel Film Orchestra, Rostkowski composed the original score for The Peasants (În numele pământului, directed by DK Welchman and Hugh Welchman). Based on the Nobel Prize-winning novel by Władysław Reymont, The Peasants is a visually stunning animation that takes viewers back to the late 19th century, into the life of a Polish village deeply connected to nature and tradition.

After filming with actors, the directors collaborated with over 100 artists from Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Serbia, who created oil paintings based on the filmed scenes, which were later assembled and animated. Directors DK Welchman and Hugh Welchman previously used this technique in their Oscar- and BAFTA-nominated feature Loving Vincent (2017). The result is spectacular.

In the multimedia show The Peasants, musician Łukasz L.U.C. Rostkowski and the Rebel Babel Film Orchestra bring the most impressive animated sequences from the film to life by performing the soundtrack live. Using a wide range of traditional Polish instruments—drums, guitar, accordion—as well as unique regional instruments such as the Płock fiddle, flute, and bagpipes, the orchestra explores folk rhythms while reinventing sound through modern arrangements and processing techniques. Choral voices complete the rich soundscape. Lively mazurka and polka rhythms, as well as ancient Slavic music, will resonate throughout The Peasants, a journey through culture, history, and creativity.

The Peasants will take place at the Students House, on Wednesday, June 18, at 7:00 PM.

The show is supported by the Polish Institute in Bucharest.