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This Is A Very Special Film Night!

This is a very special film night, and here are the reasons.

1. The restored version of this film has been shown 3 times in public before, and never in the UK. The first restored screening took place at at the International Cannes Film Festival in May 2006.

2. It is impossible to get this version of the film on DVD.

3. Martin Scorsese loves this film - as you can see below.

4. The (silent) film will be accompanied by a great cello player, Mark Carroll, who has composed music especially for this screening.

5. The screening will be introduced byDr Stefano Cracolici, lecturer in Italian studies at Durham University.

6. When is the last time you saw a silent film from 1914?

7. When is the last time you saw an Italian silent film? The silent films commonly known are generally English/American (Chaplin, Buster Keaton) or German (Murnau), but Italian silent films are hardly ever shown.

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Special Restored Version - Never Shown In The UK Before!

The film was restored by the Italian National Cinema Museum, and the film now has beautiful colours and image quality.

The previous versions were cut by about an hour, but now here is the original film, compiled from prints found in Moscow, Paris, London, New York and Pastrone's estate, and restored to within three minutes of its original running time.

This is far superior to the grainy black and white copies currently available on DVD.

This restoration has only been shown three times in public before, and never in the UK. It is not possible to get this version of the film on DVD.

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Martin Scorsese About The Film:

"I will never forget the first time I saw Giovanni Pastrone's extraordinary Cabiria. It was 20 years ago. I wasn't quite prepared for the sheer scope and beauty of this film. And I was completely unprepared for having my sense of film history realigned.

"There are so many elements that we took for granted as American inventions – the long-form historical epic, the moving camera, diffused light. Suddenly, here they were in a picture made two years before Griffith's Birth of a Nation. And, of course, there was the discovery of Pastrone [the director] himself, a major figure in the early history of cinema. (…)

Technical advances

"(…) As I watched Cabiria that first time, I felt like I was seeing the origins of Italian film craftsmanship. The most famous example would be Pastrone's invention of the carrello, which, of course, led to the invention of tracks in order to move the camera. But this was not simply a mechanical device. It was an expressive tool.

The camera movements in Cabiria do much more than follow the actors: they enrich the sense of space and the drama as well. This is important to remember. Pastrone made the camera itself a presence, and the meeting between this presence and the unfolding action became charged with mystery, possibility.

Use of Light and the Sets

"Of course, there are so many other ways of discussing this remarkable film: the extraordinary use of light, both realistic and poetic, affording greater depth to each scene; the set-pieces, such as the eruption of Aetna, and the extraordinary final battle; the sets, particularly the temple of Moloch, and the hand-crafted production design; Italia Almirante-Manzini's wild, extravagant performance as Sophonisba, Gabriele D'Annunzio's equally wild and extravagant language in the inter titles; and last but not least, the first appearance of Maciste, Italian cinema's first action hero.

In the end, though, Cabiria is not a collection of great moments or choices, but a magnificent, entrancing whole."

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Influence on Other Directors

Made with towering sets, thousands of actors and limitless ambition, Cabiria was so great that Griffith copied it, Fellini paid it homage (with Nights of Cabiria, 1957) and Scorsese is still in awe of it.

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Blockbuster Of Its Time, With Real Elephants

"Cabiria" was famous in its day, a global box-office success. Like today's blockbusters, a lot of money was spent on it, but it contains no special effects.

"The film was made with limitless scope and ambition, with towering sets and thousands of extras, with stunts that (because they were actually performed by stuntmen) have an impact lost in these days of visual effects. Hannibal's elephants actually cross the Alps in this movie." - Roger Ebert

The film was made between 1913 and 1914 and was distributed worldwide starting in March 1914.

The attention and public success it achieved at the time rightfully place it alongside many Hollywood blockbusters of later eras, which made (and continue to make) the history of cinema.

Pastrone's masterpiece was immediately popular and, right from the beginning, it attracted the attention of executors, producers and the press for its impressive advances in the development of the dawning cinematographic art form.

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Plot

"This story of a young girl lost amidst the clashes of two great nations retains its human interest as well as its power to amaze and astonish." - film reference

Set in Sicily and Carthage during the Second Punic Wars (218 - 202BC), the film follows the adventures of Cabiria, a young Roman girl who is kidnapped and sold to the Carthaginians who plan to sacrifice her.

Fortunately, she is rescued from the temple by a Roman spy and his muscular slave, Maciste, and becomes the maid of Sophinisba, Queen of Carthage. The Romans must struggle against Hannibal's Elephants in the Alps and the awesome Carthaginian navy before they can rescue Cabiria.

Will they succeed?

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+ Live Music: Cello & Dang Gao!

The fantastic musician Mark Carroll has composed music especially for this screening, and will be performing with his cello and a Dang Gao - a Vietnamese string musical instrument.

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+ Introduction From Dr Stefano Cracolici

The film will be introduced by Dr Stefano Cracolici, a lecturer in Italian film and culture at Durham University, who knows pretty much everything about this film.

One of his Phd students, Joseph North, is programming a few awesome Italian films in October and November in Durham, and more info can be found here:

http://www.dur.ac.uk/mlac/italian/2011silentfilmfestival/

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+ Pizza and coffee!!! Doors open at 6pm

As the film is 3 hours long, we'll have some nice coffee on, and some great pizza!! We'll have a little 10 minute break in the middle, so that the cellist can have a rest, but also so you can get some pizza if you're feeling peckish.

Or you can come straight from work and have some pizza with us before the film!

The doors will open at 6pm.

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Tickets:

£5 or £3.50p concessions on the door

£4.50 advance booking online http://www.wegottickets.com/event/142626