Film is never just images. From iconic soundtracks and innovative sound design to live musical accompaniment, MUSIC explores how sound and music shape the rhythm, meaning and emotional impact of film – whether in brand-new films and restored classics, or in music documentaries and musicals.

Within this strand we also present RE/SCORED, a series in which contemporary musicians create and perform a new live soundtrack to films, in collaboration with De Studio.

HIGHLIGHTS

“I believe in the truth of fairy-tales more than I believe in the truth of newspapers.” For her THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED – the oldest surviving animated feature film – the German director Lotte Reiniger drew inspiration from one of the most famous fairy-tales from literary history, 1001 Nights. She invented her own unique animation technique, inspired by Javan shadow plays. The film will be accompanied by pianist Noah Vanden Abeele, who will improvise a live soundtrack.

Silent cinema is often mentioned in the same breath with the celebrities of that era, like Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks. In TRUE HEART SUSIE, two silent cinema stars come together: director and father of narrative cinema D.W. Griffith and his muse, actress Lillian Gish. The film will be accompanied by pianist Hilde Nash, who will improvise a live soundtrack.

Although Italian cinema has no shortage of icons, Vittorio de Seta is the odd one out. Drawing on his anthropology studies, de Seta dedicated his life to capturing disappearing folk customs. In the fifties he created a string of documentary films that distilled his research into beautiful footage. With her distinctive, sensitive chemistry of pop, jar and folk, musician Roos Denayer (Rosa Butsi) brings a couple of de Seta’s early films to life. For VITTORIO DE SETA X ROSA BUTSI, musician Rosa Butsi, featuring Marie Cocriamont, has composed a new soundtrack for the short film compilation and will bring it live during this screening.