EARTH (PG)
Alexander Dovzhenko, 1930, 75m
with live soundtrack composed and performed by RSeiliog
Sunday 27th March 2pm £10/£5.50
EARTH by Alexander Dovzhenko is undoubtedly one of the greatest silent films ever made and the pinnacle of Ukrainian cinema. Robin Edwards originally performed a live electronic score for this classic as part of our Psylence Festival back in 2017 we are delighted to announce that he is back especially for our Ukrainian humanitarian appeal fund raising event. This is simply unmissable. Robin’s use of electronic music is perfect for a tale of how humanity is changed by technology.
When Robin debuted his work in 2017 the emotional connection was immense, he had clearly lived with this film for months and his score was so in step with Dovzheenko’s vision and philosophy that it transcended any idea of ‘gimmickry’ or re-invention – the film was ‘alive’. The idea that a silent movie can be so fresh and powerful was a revelation.
In this film we are shown Ukrainian peasant life, in all its richness changing from rural agriculture into Stalin’s age of collectivization as the Ukrainian people learn to “sing new songs for a new life” with the arrival of progress being represented by a tractor. Produced before the famines of the Holodomor, and the terrible political repressions and deportations under Stalin the film exists as an extraordinary paean to the cycle of life and death and the power of nature, to Ukraine, to the land and to the people who toil on it and whose lives are inextricably bound up with it
OLGA (15)
Elie Grappe, 2022, 85m
Sun 27th March 5.30pm
UK cinemas have come together in support of Ukraine with a series of preview charity screenings of Olga, a new film about a young female Ukrainian gymnast forced to train in exile. In Elie Grappe’s multi award winning drama 15yr old Olga is trying to fit in with her new team in her new home. But as she prepares for the European Championship, the Ukrainian people stage a revolution. Olga is left a powerless, distant bystander as her mother, an investigative journalist, faces danger as she challenges a brutal regime. Can Olga reconcile her personal goals with the history unfolding in her homeland?