Midnight Palace
Vendor
- Messages
- 640
- Location
- Hollywood, CA
The American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre presents a special screening of Carl Theodore Dreyer's 1928 silent masterpiece THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC (LA PASSION DE JEANNE D'ARC), on Thursday, October 4th. Dreyer's tale of the legendary young woman who died for God and France centuries ago, will be presented with a brand new score by young Danish composer Jesper Kyd. This screening is a collaboration of DK Film Fest: LA 2007. A Danish cheese and wine reception will precede the screening at 6:30 PM. This screening are at the Lloyd E. Theatre at the historic Egyptian (6712 Hollywood Boulevard between Highland and Las Palmas) in Hollywood. Tickets available through www.fandango.com. Guests subject to availability.
THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC (LA PASSION DE JEANNE D' ARC)
Thursday, October 4, 2007: Egyptian Theatre
The Thursday, October 4th program is a 7:30 PM screening of THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC (LA PASSION DE JEANNE D'ARC), (1928, 110 min.), directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer (b. Denmark 1889, died 1968). No mere bio-pic or conventional period piece, Carl Theodor Dreyer's masterpiece is one of the landmarks of silent cinema. It takes place during a period of less than 24 hours on May 30, 1429 at the castle in Rouen where Joan of Arc was to be burned to the stake. Dreyer chose to focus his version of the famous story on the last spiritual struggle of Joan as an individual battling against a superior force.
Renee Falconetti is heartbreaking as the legendary young woman who died for God and France, and Dreyer's close-up-driven style brutally forces the audience to share her pain. The film is noted stylistically for Dreyer's emphasis upon the face, realized in long-held facial shots. Dreyer notes that he decided to cast Comedie Francaise actress Maria Falconetti when he realized, "I found in her face, exactly what I had been seeking for Joan of Arc: a rustic woman, very sincere, who was also a woman who had suffered." No director, not even Bergman, has ever been as conscious of the camera's ability to explore the mysteries of the human face.
In 1928, when the film opened in Dreyer's native Copenhagen, a controversy arose over church censorship and was soon banned in Britain for its alleged anti-British attitude. A laboratory fire, re-cutting without Dreyer's permission and the additional sound commentary on prints distributed in the US made film historians believe for many years that an original version of the film no longer existed until a discovery of the original print in the vaults of the Cinematheque Francaise.
Brand new score by young Danish composer Jesper Kyd, a mix of live elements and electronics
. In collaboration with DK FILM FEST: LA 2007. Their website: www.dkfilmfestla.com A Danish cheese and wine reception precedes screening at 6:30 PM.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR:
Carl Theodor Dreyer was born in Denmark in 1889. He began his professional life as a theatre reviewer for newspapers in and around Copenhagen.
In 1912 Dreyer joined the Nordisk Films Kompagni as a dialogue writer. Later he wrote scripts and adapted novels for the studio. In 1918 he asked for permission to direct his first feature, an adaptation he had written of K.E. Franzo's novel The President.
Dreyer directed a total of nine silent films, of which LE PASSION DE JEANNE d'ARC (1928) was the last. VAMPYR (1932) was his first sound feature. In the 1930s he went to England to work with John Grierson and other documentarians of the day.
Dreyer resumed directing in 1942 with DAY OF WRATH which was released the following year. Between 1942 and 1961 he completed four feature films and eight short subjects. He died in 1968 without realizing a project on the life of Christ which he had spent a great deal of time and energy promoting. Some say that had JESUS FRA NASARET been made, it would have been the great masterpiece of Dreyer's filmmaking career.
THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC (LA PASSION DE JEANNE D' ARC)
Thursday, October 4, 2007: Egyptian Theatre
The Thursday, October 4th program is a 7:30 PM screening of THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC (LA PASSION DE JEANNE D'ARC), (1928, 110 min.), directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer (b. Denmark 1889, died 1968). No mere bio-pic or conventional period piece, Carl Theodor Dreyer's masterpiece is one of the landmarks of silent cinema. It takes place during a period of less than 24 hours on May 30, 1429 at the castle in Rouen where Joan of Arc was to be burned to the stake. Dreyer chose to focus his version of the famous story on the last spiritual struggle of Joan as an individual battling against a superior force.
Renee Falconetti is heartbreaking as the legendary young woman who died for God and France, and Dreyer's close-up-driven style brutally forces the audience to share her pain. The film is noted stylistically for Dreyer's emphasis upon the face, realized in long-held facial shots. Dreyer notes that he decided to cast Comedie Francaise actress Maria Falconetti when he realized, "I found in her face, exactly what I had been seeking for Joan of Arc: a rustic woman, very sincere, who was also a woman who had suffered." No director, not even Bergman, has ever been as conscious of the camera's ability to explore the mysteries of the human face.
In 1928, when the film opened in Dreyer's native Copenhagen, a controversy arose over church censorship and was soon banned in Britain for its alleged anti-British attitude. A laboratory fire, re-cutting without Dreyer's permission and the additional sound commentary on prints distributed in the US made film historians believe for many years that an original version of the film no longer existed until a discovery of the original print in the vaults of the Cinematheque Francaise.
Brand new score by young Danish composer Jesper Kyd, a mix of live elements and electronics
. In collaboration with DK FILM FEST: LA 2007. Their website: www.dkfilmfestla.com A Danish cheese and wine reception precedes screening at 6:30 PM.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR:
Carl Theodor Dreyer was born in Denmark in 1889. He began his professional life as a theatre reviewer for newspapers in and around Copenhagen.
In 1912 Dreyer joined the Nordisk Films Kompagni as a dialogue writer. Later he wrote scripts and adapted novels for the studio. In 1918 he asked for permission to direct his first feature, an adaptation he had written of K.E. Franzo's novel The President.
Dreyer directed a total of nine silent films, of which LE PASSION DE JEANNE d'ARC (1928) was the last. VAMPYR (1932) was his first sound feature. In the 1930s he went to England to work with John Grierson and other documentarians of the day.
Dreyer resumed directing in 1942 with DAY OF WRATH which was released the following year. Between 1942 and 1961 he completed four feature films and eight short subjects. He died in 1968 without realizing a project on the life of Christ which he had spent a great deal of time and energy promoting. Some say that had JESUS FRA NASARET been made, it would have been the great masterpiece of Dreyer's filmmaking career.
