Kuleshov's BY THE LAW Premieres as "Live Cinema" Event at IFFR - Available on DVD For North American Institutional Sales from Gartenberg Media
/Kuleshov’s adaptation of a Jack London novel follows gold-diggers on the banks of the Yukon in Alaska. This silent film has been restored by the Austrian Film Museum and will be accompanied by live music composed by Franz Reisecker. Closing film of the Red Western programme.
Three men, one couple, one dog; all searching for gold on the banks of the Yukon in Alaska, the home of the gold rush. Everything runs smoothly at first, then Dennin suddenly shoots two of the prospectors. And then there were three. Nelson and his wife Edith (Alexandra Khokhlova) subdue the murderer. The corpses are taken away and buried; Dennin is tied up in the cabin and kept under constant guard. None can leave, as the ice and snow have begun to melt, flooding the Klondike Fields.
By the Lawis an absolute masterpiece, the greatness of which stems from its very minimalism. One can label By the Law a formalist action film, a Western psychodrama or an experimental study in bigotry. There is as much of the silent Westerns of John Ford as there is of Erich von Stroheim’s Greed and Charles Chaplin’s The Gold Rush in By the Law.
SCREENINGS
Cinerama 1
Sat 05 Feb
17:00
The Österreichisches Filmmuseum (Austrian Film Museum) holds an extraordinarily beautiful print of Lev Kuleshov's 1926 film PO ZAKONU (BY THE LAW), which they preserved in 2009. Franz Reisecker, a central figure of Austria’s crossover-music scene, was commissioned to write a new score and chose to interpret the filmmaker’s highly refined aesthetic with both analog and digital means. His musical dialogue with Kuleshov is being presented as a “Live Cinema” event, and it has also been recorded for the new Edition Filmmuseum DVD publication. Apart from BY THE LAW, the DVD also contains the only surviving fragment of Kuleshov's VASA ZNAKOMAJA / YOUR ACQUAINTANCE (1927).
The Live version of the project receives its International Premiere at the Rotterdam Film Festival on February 5, 2011.
The Edition Filmmuseum DVD of PO ZAKONU (BY THE LAW) is Available
From Gartenberg Media Exclusively for North American Institutional Sales.
PO ZAKONU (BY THE LAW)
(1926) Lev Kuleshov.
Format: DVD PAL / Region 0, No Regional Code.
Institutional Sale Price: $200.00 plus shipping & handling.
These DVDs are available on an exclusive basis for sale to educational organizations in North America (universities, libraries, & other cultural institutions), and include public performance rights. Public performance rights extend to use in classrooms and in other non-commercial settings where no admission is charged.
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