A Short Musical Excursion

   The town of Oberhausen lies peacefully in the Ruhr valley near its neighbors Essen and Düsseldorf. Sitting with friends on the pedestrian mall in the middle of town, the old façade of a three-story building belies the fact that it’s a remake, the town having been flattened to rubble in World War II. The old buildings are gone, along with the coal mining industry that used to be its mainstay.With the arrival a few years ago of a gigantic shopping mall that left only a puddle of red ink as it sucked up the businesses from the town center, the streets can be pretty deserted. But the annual festival of short films last week suddenly saw the sleepy burg and cafés filled with black-clad young filmmakers, fans, and nearly a thousand press, jury members, museum curators, distributors, and one itinerant silent film pianist.

Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen is the site for short films. Now in its 56th edition it’s well-supported by local government and an enormous array of international corporate partners that award healthy prizes. The main theme this year is From the Deep, a ten-part examination of pre-World War I European silent films, many of which have been ignored by critics and scholars, and have languished in numerous archives waiting impatiently (“Nitrate won’t wait,� goes the saying in the industry) to be rediscovered, restored and shown to a public that, judging from the reception here, is fascinated and sometimes awestruck by the power of the images that sometimes rival in beauty (and color!) the resplendent tulips that currently bedeck the various parks in the vicinity.

   The responsibility of providing musical accompaniment to the hundred or so shorts fell on my shoulders.  I was briefed before each show by Swiss curator Mariann Lewinskya.

   With the exception of a few pieces from the classical repertoire for dance films, and the Beatles song, “I’m Looking Through You,â€� which will accompany the first onscreen X-rays, I improvised all the music, and dubbed in various barking dogs.

   Next week, I’ll be home.

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