Silent films depict ocean’s cinematic nature

21 February 2014

Silent films depict ocean’s cinematic nature

A unique cinematic experience with live accompaniment on piano accordion is being staged for one night only at the New Zealand Film Archive this Saturday.

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Image: Heinrich Hauser, film still from WINDJAMMER UND JANMAATEN – DIE LETZTE SEGELSCHIFFE (Windjammer and Sailors – The Last Sailboats), 1930. 35mm, b&w, silent, 86mins. Collection of EYE Film Institute Netherlands.

In conjunction with the exhibition Cinema & Painting, the Adam Art Gallery’s upcoming event Turbulence: The Ocean as Cinematic Spacefeatures two silent films selected by Adam Art Gallery curator Michelle Menzies and Philippe-Alain Michaud, Curator of Film at the Georges Pompidou Centre. 

Both films explore the atmospheric drama of an interaction of sea, sky, and sand. These are Nathaniel Dorsky’s silent masterpiece, Alaya, 1976-87, and WINDJAMMER UND JANMAATEN – DIE LETZTE SEGELSCHIFFE (Windjammer and Sailors: The Last Sailboats), a black-and-white film made in 1930 by amateur filmmaker Heinrich Hauser capturing the ‘SS Pamir’, the last commercial sailing ship to sail around Cape Horn.

Windjammer and Sailors: The Last Sailboats will be accompanied by Jonathan Berkahn on piano accordion in an improvised performance specially conceived for the occasion.

Turbulence: The Ocean as Cinematic Space
When: Saturday 22 February, 6pm
Where: New Zealand Film Archive Wellington
Cost: $10/$8 entry

ENDS

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