Capital Celluloid 2019 - Day 123: Fri May 3

Heaven on Earth (Schünzel/Schirokauer, 1927): BFI Southbank, NFT1, 6.20pm


BFI intro to this 35mm screening, the opening night of the Weimar season at BFI Southbank:
A hapless politician (comic genius Schünzel) leads a double life – publicly attacking the depravity of Berlin nightlife while secretly running ‘Heaven on Earth’, a notorious nightclub. This delicious distillation of the contemporary debate around moral degeneracy features raunchy chorus girls, a black jazz band, and a cross-dressing scene that anticipates Some Like It Hot by several decades.

Background to live score for tonight's film:
Helen Noir is a London-based musician and composer. A classically-trained soprano and accomplished producer, she has written original scores for live performance for a number of films, including Alla Nazimova’s Salome and ‎Harry Kümel’s Daughters of Darkness. Helen’s live scores respond to picture in unique and compelling ways, referencing disco, opera, jazz or chanson, and incorporating choral loops, reverb-drenched guitar or techno bass-lines.

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