A Man With a Band and A Man With a Movie Camera
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When the folks at the Alamo Drafthouse gave musician Justin Sherburn free reign to compose an original score for the silent film of his choosing, he did a lot of research before settling on the 1929 Russian film Man With a Movie Camera. This experimental film from director Dziga Vertov may not be well known to the masses, but it’s pretty familiar to film students due to its innovative special effects and forward-thinking editing style.
It’s a documentary on life in the Soviet Union in the ’20s, but it’s also a document of the movie making process; Vertov breaks the fourth wall often to show the editing process and even an audience watching the film itself. Rather than following one straight narrative, the movie flows as a series of short vignettes; Sherburn says watching Man With a Movie Camera feels like watching MTV, if MTV existed in 1929 in the Soviet Union.
That vibe, along with the film’s progressive special effects, make it a natural fit for the contemporary soundtrack Sherburn has composed. And the fourth-wall-breaking nature of the movie should only be enhanced by a live performance of the new soundtrack by Sherburn and his band Montopolis (featuring Andy Beaudoin, Lindsay Greene, Joseph Shuffield, Michelle Alany, and Andrew Noble).
Man With a Movie Camera
featuring a live original score by Montopolis
at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar
Sunday, July 8 at 2:00 pm
Wednesday, July 11 at 7:00 pm
Podcast: Download (1.8MB)
