1929 | U.S.S.R | NR | 68 min.
We are proud to present a rare live event on
our beautiful silver screen as part of the centennial
celebration of the historic State Theatre
of Traverse City. Thanks to the extraordinary
efforts of a global coalition of film archivists,
“Man with a Movie Camera,” a groundbreaking
early work of cinema, is available its entirety for
the first time since its premiere in Moscow in
1929. And accompanying this magnificent new
restoration, live on our stage, is the internationally-acclaimed
Alloy Orchestra—an ensemble so
revered, the late Roger Ebert wrote that they
were the very best in the world at accompanying
silent film. Soviet auteur Dziga Vertov’s
pioneering film captures a day in the life of
1920s Moscow as seen through the lens of the
“kino-glaz” (cinema-eye). Mixing quotidian footage
of Russian life with the poetic whir of machinery
to dazzling effect, Vertov and his editor
wife Elizaveta Svilova helped establish film as
an art form when they created a new cinematic
language through rhythmic editing, creative exposures,
and inventive camera tricks. The Alloy
Orchestra has chosen to carefully follow the instructions
laid out by Vertov himself when composing
their score. The result is a spectacular
and vital cinematic experience unlike anything
you’ve ever seen.