Barbican Film February 2012 Highlights

barbican.org.uk/film
Box Office: 0845 120 7527

Barbican Film Regulars

Wagner’s Götterdämmerung – Met Opera Live – Saturday 11 February

Verdi’s Ernani – Met Opera Live – Saturday 25 February

An Italian Straw Hat with live musical accompaniment by Andrew Youdell – Silent Film and Live Music Series – Sunday 19 February

Style Wars + The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal – Architecture on Film Series – Tuesday 21 February

Barbican Film Regulars

Met Opera Live: During February, the Barbican hosts two of the New York Met’s award-winning series of live, high-definition performance transmissions:

Wagner’s Götterdämmerung – Saturday 11 February 5pm

With its cataclysmic climax, the Met’s new Ring cycle, directed by Robert Lepage, comes to its resolution. Deborah Voigt stars as Brünnhilde and Gary Lehman is Siegfried – the star-crossed lovers doomed by fate. James Levine conducts.

Verdi’s Ernani – Saturday 25 February 6pm

Angela Meade takes centre stage in Verdi’s thrilling early gem. Salvatore Licira is her mismatched lover, and all-star Verdians Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Ferruccio Furlanetto round out the cast.

Silent Film & Live Music Series – An Italian Hat (U) (France, 1927, Dir René Clair, 74min), with live musical accompaniment by Andrew Youdell, Sunday 19 February 4pm

René Clair’s satire on middle-class pretension is one of the great landmarks of French silent cinema. A young man in 1890s Paris is on his way to his wedding, when his horse chews the straw hat of a philandering married woman. Complications inevitably abound, as he offers to replace the hat whilst trying desperately not to jeopardise his wedding arrangements. The tale unfolds in an endless series of comic misunderstandings, “so expertly timed and so elegantly directed that farce becomes ballet”. (Pauline Kael). A sparkling comedy of errors starring the great French film actor, and Clair regular, Albert Préjean.

Architecture on Film Series – Style Wars (PG) (USA, 1984, Dirs Henry Chalfont and Tony Silver, 69min) + The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal (PG) (USA, 2001, Dir Matt McCormick, 16min) Tuesday 21 February 7pm

This month Barbican presents two films that explore a very urban form of personal expression, from both conscious and unconscious origins.

Style Wars – This celebrated documentary presents the city as a canvas and dance floor, offering a glimpse into the graffiti and hip hop scenes in 1980s New York.

+ The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal – A fascinating short film by Matt McCormick, narrated by Miranda July.