Forget Murnau. Forget Griffith. The greatest repository of images in all of silent film is surely Benjamin Christensen’s magnificent, loony HÄXAN, also known as WITCHCRAFT THROUGH THE AGES. Featuring crazed nuns, flaming witches, and a spectacularly obscene performance by the director himself as Satan, HÄXAN is like no other film ever made: an uncontrolled rampage of feverish, violent images, part historical recreation, part religious satire, all hallucination. Artists Television Access is proud to present HÄXAN in a newly butchered version, prepared especially for this screening by conceptual artist Dr. Astronaut Body. Now missing over half an hour of crucial footage and structurally reorganized for maximum impact, HÄXAN will be accompanied by a new score performed live by the San Francisco electronica band DR. PRISONER: THE BRAIN! Including members of The Pine Box Boys and Reagan’s Polyp.
DR. PRISONER: THE BRAIN! is part of the same creative team that has premiered new scores for THE MAN WITH THE MOVIE CAMERA, NOSFERATU, THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC, THE MAN WHO LAUGHS, KOYAANISQATSI, and the Led Zeppelin film THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME, all at Artists Television Access.
