On November 11, EYE, RE:VIVE and The Rest is Noise present the first installment of their new collaboration, _underscore_
You may not expect to find titles like Het gestolen huurcontract (The Stolen Lease Agreement) and Stalen knuisten (Steel Fists) in combination with electronic music. That they are brought together is the outcome of an initiative by Eye, RE:VIVE and The Rest is Noise to introduce young composers to the history of the silent film. Lamellen, Nadia Struiwigh and Know VA watched material from the 1920s and 1930s, turned on their synthesizers and computers and came up with amazing new scores.
Electronic musicians Lamellen (Rimer London and Waterlelyck), Nadia Struiwigh (Denovali Records) and Know VA (Signal Life Records) took up the challenge. They watched Dick Laan’s story about a football club in dire straits, saw footage of Dutch steelworkers and examined a Bits & Pieces compilation film with edited clips based on leftover material in the archive of Eye Filmmuseum.
Lamellen was guided by a sense of ‘nostalgia after the films of the past’ for his compositions; Nadia Struiwigh and Know VA juxtaposed synthesizer-driven ‘Vangelis sound’ with the films from Eye’s archive.
Programme
Het gestolen huurcontract (Dick Laan, NL 1924, 29’, b/w) (Sound and Vision)
A dramatized story about a conflict involving the purchase of football grounds by the Royal Haarlem Football Club. Director Dick Laan is best known as the writer of children’s books (one of his series was translated into English as the ‘Fingerling’ series), but he was also a devoted amateur filmmaker.
Stalen knuisten (Jo de Haas, NL 1930 19’ [clip], b/w) (Sound and Vision)
Documentary footage of the Dutch steelworks Hoogovens, Fokker, sheet metal works and shipbuilding. Vistas of the Netherlands’ glorious industrial past!
Bits & Pieces 274 t/m 284 (Mark-Paul Meyer, NL 1994, 16’) (EYE Filmmuseum)
A compilation of Swiss, French and German film clips dating from the years 1915-1930, selected and edited by Eye curator Mark-Paul Meyer.