Haxan: Re-score By Geoff Smith
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Sat 23 February 2008 // 20:00
HAXAN: Witchcraft through the Ages
With groundbreaking new score by Geoff Smith on the hammered dulcimer
(Benjamin Christensen / 1922 / Sweden / 104min / Titled)
(Sat 23rd / 8pm / £8 adv /£10 on the door
A legendary and infamous film, Häxan was banned in every country in Europe when first released in 1922. It was one of the first drama-documentaries, integrating fact and fiction, and Christensen's experimental style endeared it to the Surrealists.
A brew of the horrific, gross, and darkly comedic, Häxan chronicles grave robbing, repressed eroticism, possessed nuns, and a satanic Sabbath, as the director asserts that the ‘witches’ of the Middle Ages suffered the same mass hysteria as did the mentally ill centuries later. Häxan retains a powerful and shocking contemporary resonance, and emerges as a moving, disturbing but ultimately liberating study of the persecution of the mentally ill, women, the poor and the elderly.
Geoff Smith's new score for Häxan further explores his pioneering approach to composition and performance that was exemplified in his recent scores for Faust and The Cabinet of Dr Caligari.
Geoff Smith is acknowledged as a world-leading virtuoso and innovator in composition, technique and performance on the hammered dulcimer, as well as a pioneer in Dulcimer design.
With groundbreaking new score by Geoff Smith on the hammered dulcimer
(Benjamin Christensen / 1922 / Sweden / 104min / Titled)
(Sat 23rd / 8pm / £8 adv /£10 on the door
A legendary and infamous film, Häxan was banned in every country in Europe when first released in 1922. It was one of the first drama-documentaries, integrating fact and fiction, and Christensen's experimental style endeared it to the Surrealists.
A brew of the horrific, gross, and darkly comedic, Häxan chronicles grave robbing, repressed eroticism, possessed nuns, and a satanic Sabbath, as the director asserts that the ‘witches’ of the Middle Ages suffered the same mass hysteria as did the mentally ill centuries later. Häxan retains a powerful and shocking contemporary resonance, and emerges as a moving, disturbing but ultimately liberating study of the persecution of the mentally ill, women, the poor and the elderly.
Geoff Smith's new score for Häxan further explores his pioneering approach to composition and performance that was exemplified in his recent scores for Faust and The Cabinet of Dr Caligari.
Geoff Smith is acknowledged as a world-leading virtuoso and innovator in composition, technique and performance on the hammered dulcimer, as well as a pioneer in Dulcimer design.