THE ANCIENT LAW
Special Features: 100th Anniversary; 4K DCP with restored tinting and toning. Live musical accompaniment by Donald Sosin and Alicia Svigals
[DAS ALTE GESETZ]
Directed by Ewald André Dupont (PICCADILLY, VARIETE), this 1923 film is a landmark representation of German-Jewish history. Set in the 1860s, the story focuses on young Baruch (Ernst Deutsch), the son of a rabbi in an eastern shtetl, who, after becoming fascinated with the theater, leaves his home to pursue his art. In time, Baruch works his way up the ranks from tent show stagehand to celebrated stage actor in Vienna, thanks to the patronage of an archduchess (Henny Porten). But Baruch still longs for home and the approval of his stern, traditional father. The assimilation narrative and struggle between tradition and modernity strongly prefigure those of THE JAZZ SINGER, which would come along several years later. The scenes of shtetl life are vividly realized, as are the observances of Purim and Yom Kippur. This gem of German-Jewish cinema will be shown with an original live score by the extraordinary violinist Alicia Svigals (The Klezmatics, The Yellow Ticket) and pianist Donald Sosin. DIR Ewald André Dupont; SCR Paul Reno, from memoirs by Heinrich Laube. Germany, 1923, b&w, 135 min. Silent with English intertitles. NOT RATED
Restored by the Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen. Program made possible with support from the Sunrise Foundation for Education and the Arts.
No AFI Member passes accepted.
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About Donald Sosin
"The top of the line of film pianists!" — Leonard Maltin, film critic. Donald Sosin is a pianist and composer who grew up in Rye, NY, and Munich, Germany. Since 1971, he has performed his silent film music at Lincoln Center, MoMA, the Kennedy Center and major film festivals in the U.S. and abroad, including New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Telluride, Tribeca and more. Donald is a favorite guest artist at Washington, DC's National Gallery, BAM, the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, Moscow's prestigious Lumière Gallery, the Thailand Silent Film Festival and the Jecheon International Music and Film Festival in South Korea. He also performs each year at Italy's silent film retrospectives in Bologna and Pordenone and records for Criterion, Kino, Milestone and TCM. You can learn more about his work at oldmoviemusic.com.
About Alicia Svigals
Alicia Svigals is a composer, vocalist and the world's foremost Klezmer violinist, who almost singlehandedly rescued that fiddle tradition with her 1996 recording "Fidl." Svigals is a founder of the Grammy®-winning Klezmatics, whom she co-led for 17 years. She has been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony and at LABA: A Laboratory for Jewish Culture in NYC. Svigals has taught, composed for, recorded and toured with violinist Itzhak Perlman, and has composed for the Kronos Quartet. She's been featured in Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues" at Madison Square Garden, and composer Osvaldo Golijov was commissioned to create a work for her and clarinetist David Krakauer entitled "Rocketekiya," presented at Merkin Concert Hall and Jazz at Lincoln Center. Svigals works in many genres, recording on projects from Hasidic star Avraham Fried's "Avinu Malkeynu" to the soundtrack of THE L-WORD, from string quartets for singer Diane Birch's debut "Bible Belt" to Indian-style violin on Gary Lucas and Najma Akhtar's "Rishte." She's performed in stadiums with Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, recorded for John Cale and the Ben Folds Five and John Zorn's Cobra. She wrote an Americana soundtrack for Judith Helfand's documentary THE UPRISING OF 1934, arranged string quartets for singer-songwriter Debbie Friedman at Carnegie Hall and provided original music for choreographers Risa Jaroslow at Lincoln Center and Naomi Goldberg at the Ford Theater in LA. Her album "Vodkazak," produced by a Chabad rabbi, feature her Klezmer interpretations of Hasidic nigunim, a rare production from that community featuring a female artist. You can learn more about her work at aliciasvigals.com.
Run Time: 135 Minutes
Opening Date: Sunday, November 05, 2023
Genre: Silent drama
