….celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the film’s release, with a new score composed by Clark and McCullough featuring:
JOE CLARK conducting, composing
CHAD McCULLOUGH trumpet, composing
JON IRABAGON saxophones
DAVE MILLER guitar
ALVIN COBB JR drums
With support from Ryan Miller, Chris Anderson, Cafe Coda, and generous in-kind support from The Silent Film Society of Chicago, a federal 501c3 not-for-profit organization.
“Häxan (Swedish: , “The Witch”; Danish: Heksen; English: The Witches; released in the US in 1968 as Witchcraft Through the Ages) is a 1922 silent horror essay film written and directed by Benjamin Christensen. Consisting partly of documentary-style storytelling as well as dramatized narrative sequences, the film charts the historical roots and superstitions surrounding witchcraft, beginning in the Middle Ages through the 20th century. Based partly on Christensen’s own study of the Malleus Maleficarum, a 15th-century German guide for inquisitors, Häxan proposes that such witch hunts may have stemmed from misunderstandings of mental or neurological disorders, triggering mass hysteria.”
“Häxan is a Swedish film produced by AB Svensk Filmindustri, but shot in Denmark in 1920–1921. With Christensen’s meticulous recreation of medieval scenes and its lengthy production period, the film was the most expensive Scandinaviansilent film ever made, costing nearly two million Swedish kronor. Although it received some positive reception in Denmark and Sweden, censors in countries such as Germany, France, and the United States objected to what were considered at that time graphic depictions of torture, nudity, and sexual perversion, as well as anti-clericalism.”
7:30 Doors
8pm Show
Livestream = youtube.com/fultonstreetcollective