We’re thrilled to announce that Metropolis accompanied by a live score by sisters Linda and Irene Buckley, will be screening at this year’s Glasgow Cathedral Festival, on Friday 19 and Sunday 21 September. This special screening brings together one of cinema’s greatest achievements with one of Scotland’s most historic venues – an unforgettable fusion of film, music and architecture.
Having originally screened at the 66th Cork International Film Festival in 2021, we’re honoured to share this cinematic gem beyond Cork, inviting new audiences to experience its power in an extraordinary setting.
Experience the visionary brilliance of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) like never before in the vast, gothic surroundings of Glasgow Cathedral. Unfolding in a fever-dream of Art Deco cityscapes, mad scientists and futuristic robot creations, this sci-fi epic is a genre-defining work of cinematic expressionism—visually stunning, emotionally charged and terrifyingly prophetic in its prediction of 21st-century class divides.
Taking a year to shoot and involving 37,000 extras, the original version of the film was harshly redacted only 10 weeks after its premiere, by the ultra-nationalistic German authorities. Lang’s true version was then considered lost, until an Argentinian film archive’s miraculous discovery in 1988 began a twenty-year process which ultimately restored vast swathes of the missing footage.
For the exclusive GCF screenings, this legendary 2008 restoration of the film is paired with the UK premiere of a live score composed by sisters Linda Buckley and Irene Buckley. Performed by ensemble Bangers & Crash and featuring over a dozen percussion instruments, the soundtrack brings exhilarating new dimensions to Lang’s beguiling cinematography—transporting you from the catacombs to the penthouses of his dystopian megacity. As pulsating, rhythmic energy surrounds you, enter the metropolis and submit to the machine.
More info here
A film from the holdings of the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung (www.murnau-stiftung.de) in Wiesbaden.
These screenings are presented by GCF in association with Cork International Film Festival. Score commissioned by Cork International Film Festival with the support of the Arts Council of Ireland’s Commissions Award, and premiered at the 66th CIFF in 2021.
