(Das singende, klingende Bäumchen)
72 minutes
In German with English subtitles

We have been watching a few Soviet fantasy films over the last period, but here is a very trippy flick that came out of East Germany already in the 1950s! There was a wild colorful stream of these so-called 'fantasy' films that ran through the former East block like a wild river from the 50s until the 80s. This one is based on a brothers Grimm story called Das singende springende Löweneckerchen, and it involves a man who is sent on a quest that leads to a delirious journey.

This movie is so strange and offbeat that when it was shown on BBC television it haunted an entire generation. In fact 38 years later BBC radio devoted a program to it, discussing the uncanny effect it had on all those kids… but when they watched it as children they of course had no idea it was a movie from forbidden Communist East Germany. 

The art design is absolutely mind-blowing, the phosphorescent color scheme  makes it almost psychedelic, the worlds it creates are eerie. And perhaps, most importantly, all the effects—the bizarre costumes, the mind-boggling creatures and the otherworldly landscapes—all have a magical handcrafted quality, and are devoid of any kind of cheap digital effects. This brings its aesthetics closer to the art of puppetry and its ability to take inanimate objects and bring them to life. 

Today The Singing Ringing Tree is totally forgotten, but like I said, there was a time when entire generations both in the east and west bloc were hugely influenced by it… and more recently in 2006 it also inspired a musical sculpture that still stands today on a windy hill overlooking Burnley in Lancashire by architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu. 

This will be another outrageously rare screening, so hope to see you there.