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White Paradise (15*) + live musical accompaniment by Tomáš Vtípil

Silent Film and Live Music

White Paradise

The UK premiere of a restored box office hit from 1924 starring Anny Ondra and Karel Lamač in the role of naïve orphan Nina and escaped convict Ivan.

In the snowy landscape of a desolate region, the orphan Nina (Anny Ondra) serves customers in a coaching inn, quarrelling with its owner, while Ivan (Karel Lamač), who has been jailed for embezzlement, escapes from prison to bring medicine to his dying mother. Hiding from the pursuing police in the inn's cellar, Ivan meets Nina who falls for his good heart and piercing eyes and decides to help him.

An ingeniously written script and the involvement of Der starke Vierer (The Strong Four) – one of the most distinctive creative teams to come out of early Czechoslovak cinema: director and actor Karel Lamač, cameraman Otto Heller, actress Anny Ondra and screenwriter Václav Wasserman – contributed to the international success of the film and opened the doors for Lamač and Ondra.

Screened with live musical accompaniment by Tomáš Vtípil.

 

Czechoslovakia 1924 Dir Karel Lamač 70 min 

Organised in collaboration with the Czech Centre London.

Karel Lamač (1897, Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary – 1952, Hamburg, West Germany) was a Czech film director, actor, screenwriter and producer. He directed over 100 films and appeared in 60 films working in Czechoslovakia, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France and England. He shot newsreels during WWI and with RAF during WWII.

About the musician

Tomáš Vtípil is a Czech composer, performer and producer who moves freely between alternative rock, electronic, improvised, contemporary music and performance art. His score for White Paradise is inspired by the tradition of live music accompaniment to silent movies and combines contemporary electronics, improvisation on piano, violin and no-input mixing which accentuates the operetta-like characters of this melodrama as well as the darker tones of its storytelling.

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