THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC   1928
(La passion de Jeanne D'arc)
Directed by Carl Theodore Dreyer
110 minutes
Silent with music

The legendary film by Danish director Carl Theodore Dreyer (Vampyr) starring the fragile and illuminating Maria Falconetti in the lead role. Her portrayal is widely considered one of the most astonishing performances ever committed to film. In the recent Sight and Sound critic's poll for the greatest film of all time, this silent movie clocked in at number nine. It follows the capture, interrogation and eventual execution of Joan of Arc, who would later be canonized by the Church as a saint.

Never in cinema has the use of close-ups been beaten by this incredible cinematic experience.... creating an entire landscape of intimacy which is the nearest cinema has ever come to capturing the human soul on screen. This is a raw and visceral approach, and it's absolutely relentless. The main actress would be utterly destroyed by her performance in this movie, and it would prove to be the last film she ever made.

We will be screening the recently restored and long-lost original cut of the film. For over fifty years this cut of the film was thought to have perished, before it finally resurfaced in 1980 when it was found in the closet of a Norwegian mental hospital. Also starring the wild French poet Antonin Artaud in one of his few film appearances. Catharsis, poetry, total destruction through naked illumination.
On this evening the film will be accompanied by an astounding musical soundtrack - Richard Einhorn’s Voices of Light.

This will be a high-definition projection.