The Passion of Joan of Arc Featuring Beautiful Violence with a live performance of their original score composed specifically for this film screening.
A classic of the silent age, this film tells the story of the doomed but ultimately canonized 15th-century teenage warrior. On trial for claiming she'd spoken to God, Jeanne d'Arc (Renee Falconetti) is subjected to inhumane treatment and scare tactics at the hands of church court officials (Eugene Silvain, Jean d'Yd). Initially bullied into changing her story, Jeanne eventually opts for what she sees as the truth. Her punishment, a famously brutal execution, earns her perpetual martyrdom.
Beautiful Violence is Simon Dobbs and Jon McGovern an ambient distortion duo from Vancouver, BC. Combining ambient soundscapes with electronica and noise experimentalism, BV use guitars, synths, Moogs and percussion to create lush, dense, dark but often uplifting sounds that create the perfect filmic soundtrack to your life.
"... as a film work of art this takes precedence over anything that has so far been produced. It makes worthy pictures of the past look like tinsel shams. It fills one with such intense admiration that other pictures appear but trivial in comparison." - New York Times
