Live tour of new commission for ‘Free Cinema’ film ‘Together’ (1956): Beyond Borders
A new commission from HippFest (the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival) for the ‘Free Cinema’ film ‘Together’ (1956) composed for saxophone and percussion, featuring engagement opportunities for D/deaf audiences, and touring to the EFG London Jazz Festival 25th anniversary, Glasgow Film’s Visible Cinema, Queen’s Film Theatre 50th Anniversary performance/Belfast International Festival, and the Italian Film Festival Cardiff.
HippFest (est. 2011, held in Scotland’s oldest purpose built cinema) has a five star reputation for touring original, high quality commissions of new scores for silent film further by established and emerging musicians. For this most recent commission HippFest has forayed out of the silent era with a new work for a dialogue-free film made without synchronised sound by pioneering, Italian-born Lorenza Mazzetti, part of the British ‘Free Cinema’ movement, whose manifesto celebrated ‘freedom’ for filmmakers from orthodoxy and conservatism. ‘Together’ is a refreshing and sometimes moving slice of everyday working-class life, set in London’s East End. It follows two deaf-mute dockers in the midst of the wary, hearing community. Mazzetti cast her fellow-pupils at the Slade School of Art, painter Michael Andrews and the then unknown, 32-year-old Scottish artist Eduardo Paolozzi in the lead. Paolozzi relished his role, modelling his performance on Marlon Brando!
Acclaimed musician/composers Raymond MacDonald and Christian Ferlaino have created a new live score… a dynamic alternative reinterpretation of Mazzetti’s ground-breaking work. Their music is inspired by the film’s look at communication between the two wordless protagonists, and uses saxophone and percussion, including specially-made Calabrian goat and sheep bells. The HippFest commissioned score was made possible by funding from the Community Schools 2008 Charity and the Italian Cultural Institute Edinburgh, and premiered at the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival in March 2017.