The Chicago International Movies and Music Festival (CIMMfest) presents an encore performance of ¡Que Viva México" with a live score by Sones de Mexico Ensemble (Zacbe Pichardo, music director). This screening was first presented to two full capacity audiences last April at the National Museum of Mexican Art and then again at the Tulipanes Latino Art and Film Festival in Holland, Michigan last September. If you couldn't get in then, now's your chance!
This encore is being presented as CIMMfes...
The Chicago International Movies and Music Festival (CIMMfest) presents an encore performance of ¡Que Viva México" with a live score by Sones de Mexico Ensemble (Zacbe Pichardo, music director). This screening was first presented to two full capacity audiences last April at the National Museum of Mexican Art and then again at the Tulipanes Latino Art and Film Festival in Holland, Michigan last September. If you couldn't get in then, now's your chance!
This encore is being presented as CIMMfest's Holiday Fundraiser. A VIP Cocktail preceeds the screening from 5 - 7:30pm and your attendence will help bring CIMMfest back for an eighth year. Through your generous support, CIMMfest has grown from a small neighborhood festival into one of Chicago's largest and highly anticipated cultural events.
Tickets are also available for the screening only at 7:30.
http://cimmfest.org/cimmfest-annual-holiday-fundraiser-sones-de-mexico-live-score-que-viva-mexico/
To learn more about the history of this landmark project, read on!
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Director Sergei Eisenstein's restored silent film masterpiece "¡Que Viva México!" with live musical accompaniment by Sones de México Ensemble.
On a 1927 visit to the Soviet Union to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, Diego Rivera met Sergei Eisenstein, a giant of early film making and the director of the groundbreaking silent film "The Battleship Potemkin". Rivera was impressed by Eisenstein's work and told him so. In turn, Eisenstein was fascinated by Rivera's accounts of Mexican artistic heritage, describing the wonders of ancient Aztec and Mayan art and architecture.
In 1930, Eisenstein traveled to Mexico to begin work on a comprehensive, 4-part story of Mexican history through the lens of both the Russian & Mexican revolutions. Eisenstein shot over 30 hours of film, but never completed the movie.
Various short films were made using the existing footage, but a serious attempt at a restoration honoring Eisenstein's intent didn't arrive until 1979 when director Grigori Alexandrov, another Russian director who accompanied Eisenstein on the shoot, released "¡Que Viva México!"
Although the film is filled with stunning imagry and compelling storytelling, the original score did not accurately reflect the people and culture being portrayed.
Sones de México created a live musical score of traditional Mexican music and new theme music composed by ensemble member Zacbé Pichardo (also music director for this project) to accompany a rare screening of this silent film. Projected English subtitles were translated into Spanish from the original Russian.
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