Cine-concerts at TIFF.23: Metropolis & A Page of Madness

"Metropolis is one of the great achievements of the silent era, a work so bold in vision and so furious in message that it is more powerful today than when it was made" (Roger Ebert). A special screening of Metropolis (dir. Fritz Lang, Germany, 1927) is top of the cine-concerts list at Transilvania IFF.23 (June 14-24, 2024). The expressionist mega-production will be screened, in a restored version, against the backdrop of Bánffy Castle in Bonțida and will be accompanied by the original music of the Italians from Edison Studio. The Metropolis concert will take place on Saturday, June 15, starting at 9:30 p.m. Tickets are now on sale online - https://tiff.eventbook.ro/

Set in the future, Metropolis is a perfect, super-technologized city where people live happily. But appearances are deceptive. Behind it lies a huge gap between the upper class and the workers who toil endlessly to sustain this world. Is mediation possible between these two social categories? The film is based on the novel of the same name written by Thea von Harbou in 1925. A story imagined 100 years ago is just as relevant today. After a turbulent history, in which the original version seemed lost, Metropolis was digitally restored in 2010.

After creating music for several masterpieces of silent film, Edison Studio now present perhaps their most impressive work in Cluj-Napoca. The visionary character of the film blends perfectly with the electro technique of the Italians, who combine polyphonic instruments and natural sounds. The music for Metropolis was created and will be performed live by Mauro Cardi, Luigi Ceccarelli, Alessandro Cipriani, Vincenzo Core, Andrea Veneri with the voices of artists Anna Clementi, Martin Figura, Eric Moser, Marco Noia and Andreas Otto.

Metropolis is an event presented at TIFF.23 with the support of the Italian Cultural Institute.

The list of TIFF.23 cine-concerts continues with a provocative Japanese horror - A Page of Madness (dir. Teinosuke Kinugasa, Japan, 1926), performed live by Irina-Margareta Nistor and the CelloFun band. A Page of Madness is an experimental silent thriller. Considered lost for 45 years, the film is the product of an avant-garde group of artists from Japan, known as Shinkankakuha (School of New Perceptions), who sought to surpass naturalistic representation in film, being influenced by German expressionism cinema. The event will take place on Tuesday, June 18, starting at 6:00 p.m., at Cinema Dacia - https://tiff.eventbook.ro/

The action of the film is set in a psychiatric institution in rural Japan. In the midst of a torrential rain, a caretaker walks the halls of an asylum populated by patients with mental illnesses... Using extravagant superimpositions, hallucinatory sequences, and fast and insistent visual structures, the film builds an intense and claustrophobic atmosphere. Neither pro nor anti-madness, not at all traditional, but not purely modern, A Page of Madness is lush and ambiguous, fully deserving its cult film status.

A Page of Madness is presented at Transilvania IFF with the support of the National Film Archive of Japan. 

The live musical accompaniment by the CelloFun band is done in an electro-acoustic manner, combining original themes with foley and improvisation, and features a reconstruction of the film's dialogues (in English, based on the original screenplay published in 1976), in the unmistakable reading of the Voice of Films, Irina-Margareta Nistor.

The CelloFun band consists of Attila J. Szabó (cello, electronic effects, composition), Koszika (voice, violin), Edith H. Toth (flute, straight flute), and Radu Rădescu (percussion, foley, additional texts).

Subscriptions for TIFF.23 are on sale online - https://tiff.eventbook.ro/

TIFF.23 concerts are supported by MOL Romania.