Alloy Orchestra accompanies two silent films

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Thursday, October 4, at 7:00 pm
The Alloy Orchestra accompanies
THE OVERCOAT
aka THE CLOAK
USSR, 1926, Grigori Kozintsev, Leonid Trauberg

Two years after their sold-out show of Metropolis at the Capitol Theatre (a Cinematheque presentation), Boston’s Alloy Orchestra returns to Cleveland!
This time the band that Roger Ebert calls “the best in the world at accompanying silent films” will lend their distinctive mix of clarinet, accordion, electronics, and junk metal percussion to two movies they have never before performed here, both Soviet silents in rare 35mm prints. First up is the newest work in their repertory, The Overcoat, which the Alloy will premiere at the New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center two days before they present it here! Grigori Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg’s fantastical film version of Gogol’s famous story focuses on a poor, unhappy clerk who becomes fixated on acquiring a new overcoat. This production of the avant-garde FEKS (Factory of the Eccentric Actor) workshop is a visually stunning work that owes a major debt to German Expressionism. (It was initially criticized as being too unconventional for a literary adaptation.) We will show the British Film Institute’s recent 35mm restoration. Approx. 70 min. Special admission $15, Cinematheque members $12, ages 25 & under $9 (with proof of age). Stay for tonight’s second Alloy Orchestra performance (see below) for an additional $5.

Thursday, October 4, at 8:45 pm
The Alloy Orchestra accompanies
MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA
USSR, 1929, Dziga Vertov

For their second show tonight (see previous blurb), Boston’s Alloy Orchestra will present the first Cleveland performance of what is often cited as their best score. It accompanies Man with a Movie Camera, a Constructivist Soviet silent that, in this year’s Sight & Sound magazine poll, was voted the eighth best movie of all time! Dziga Vertov’s dizzying city symphony is a whirling, swooping work that breathlessly employs every camera and editing trick known at the time to capture the rhythm, movement, and vitality of “modern” 1920s Soviet life—as well as demonstrate the possibilities of pure cinema. Eschewing title cards and comprised of almost 1800 individual shots, it is one of the most radical and influential—and fun—avant-garde features ever made. The Alloy Orchestra’s addition of music, percussion, and sound effects should raise the roof! 35mm. 67 min. Special admission $15, Cinematheque members $12, ages 25 & under $9 (with proof of age). Attend both of tonight’s Alloy Orchestra performances (see previous blurb) for only $5 more!

Website: http://www.alloyorchestra.com