The Wellington Film Society will host a rare live cinema event next Monday with local musicians performing a live soundtrack for The Joyless Street.
The Wellington Film Society has commissioned five Wellington musicians, known as the Joyless Orchestra, to perform a live soundtrack with the 1925 German film. The score will be inspired by music created in Austria at the time The Joyless Street is set (the '2nd Viennese School's' 12-tone compositions, waltzes, and Schrammelmusik).
The screening will be held at the Paramount on Monday 9 September at 6.15pm. The public is encouraged to attend the screening for a donation (notes only), Film Society members attend for free. The film has been provided by the Goethe Institut thanks to the long-standing relationship with the Wellington Film Society.
The Joyless Orchestra is made up of five Wellington musicians: Nell Thomas, Gerard Crewdson, Erika Grant, Chris Prosser and Daniel Beban. These five are involved in groups such as Orchestra of Spheres, Cookie Brooklyn and the Crumbs, The Mantarays, The Troubles and numerous other bands. Each has a background in improvised and experimental music, music for theatre and dance, and film soundtracks. All are multi-instrumentalists, and will perform the live soundtrack on viola, violin, cello, tuba, trombone, trumpet, accordion, flute, clarinet, percussion, drums, guitar and assorted electronics.
More about THE JOYLESS STREET (G W Pabst, Germany 1925) 151 minutes.
The restoration is a 151 minute version from Edition Filmmuseum. An 88 minute truncated version has previously screened in New Zealand and this is the first time that this restored version has been seen in Wellington. The Joyless Street is a seminal film in Weimar cinema as it marked the transition from expressionism to the "New Objectivity" style of filmmaking. New Objectivity was concerned with realistic portrayals of its characters and their concerns in pseudo-documentary style. Based on a novel by Austrian social critic Hugo Bettauer, it focuses on the inhabitants and patrons on one street in Vienna during the period of hyperinflation following Austria's defeat in World War I. http://www.filmsocietywellington.net.nz/db/screeningdetail.php?id=650&sy=2013
Thanks to the National Australia Bank for providing a NAB Community Grant to support this event. Wellington Film Society, affiliated to the NZ Federation of Film Societies, is the longest-standing film society in New Zealand. Formed in 1945 the Film Society is a registered charity and is run entirely by volunteer members. Full waged memberships cost $95 which equates to less than $3 per film across the year, in addition to receiving discounts at many Wellington cinemas. Screenings are held at the Paramount on Courtenay Place every Monday from 6.15 pm. For a full listing of the 2013 season please visit www.filmsocietywellington.net.nz
To coincide with the band’s February 2014 tour of Australia and New Zealand, The National front man Matt Berninger will appear at a number of special Q&A screening events for the documentary MISTAKEN FOR STRANGERS....[more]
More than once you’ve attempted to institute a social media blackout to prevent seeing spoilers on Twitter and Facebook. And more than once you’ve failed. No more, thanks to Spoiler Shield. The new app for iPhone...[more]
Fairfax Media is conducting a major poll to find the best New Zealand films of all time. They don't want to be too prescriptive about what counts as a Kiwi film, but generally it is anything that features New Zealand people...[more]
With the New York Film Critics Film Circle unveiling its winners on its Twitter account, the awards-giving season is officially in full swing, and with it comes the annual deluge of Top 10 lists. It's easy to get caught up in...[more]
The feature film Antarctica: A Year On Ice by New Zealander Anthony Powell is gaining acclaim at festivals across North America. So far the film has won: Grand Jury Selection Best Film Laughlin International Film...[more]
A single short film took both the major prizes in the second annual NZIFF New Zealand’s Best Short Film competition announced at Auckland’s Civic Theatre tonight. The Madman Entertainment Jury Prize, a cash prize of $5000 for...[more]
Chilean actress Pauline García will attend the New Zealand International Film Festival to support the Civic Theatre screening of her film Gloria. Gloria is a Chilean/Spanish co-production that tells the story of a divorced woman...[more]
We had fun in Auckland but we are going to have a ball in our home town! Yes, Simon, Kailey and Dan are bringing New Zealand's favourite movie podcast to our nation's capital on Wednesday 31st July - recording the show live...[more]
The Office of Film and Literature Classification have classified a New Zealand International Film Festival film to Festival-only screenings, restricting it from further release in New Zealand. Maniac, a serial killer horror...[more]
Yes, Simon, Kailey and Dan are bringing New Zealand's favourite movie podcast to the people on Tuesday 23rd July - recording the show live in front of an audience at Auckland's famous Wintergarden (beneath the Civic Theatre)....[more]