“Light is not so much something that reveals, as it is itself the revelation”- James Turrell-

From the end of May till June, Cinema Sunset will be screening five must-see classics from famous cinematographers that applied revolutionary lighting techniques. The program consists of five films in which light plays an integral part in enhancing the movie’s overall imagery. Starting from the early 40’s up to the mid 70’s, several lighting techniques will be reviewed. The screenings will start around sunset after a short introduction. So bring your little candles and your friends to settle down for the evening…

program
17 May 2013 | 20.30 | Day of Wrath
24 May 2013 | 20.30 | Strangers on a Train
1 June 2013 | 20.30 | In Cold Blood
8 June 2013 | 20.30 | The Conformist
14 June 2013 | 20.30 | Mean Streets

17 May 2013 | 20.30  22.30
Day of Wrath
Release: 1943
Runtime: 97 min
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer
Director of Photography: Karl Andersson
Cast: Thorkild Roose, Lisbeth Movin, Anna Svierkier

Day of Wrath (Vredens Dag) follows a witch hunt in a Danish village in 1623. The parson’s wife, Anne, is trying to protect an old woman accused of witchcraft which doesn’t go without consequences for herself. At a slow and lingering pace the film sketches a harrowing account of individual helplessness in the face of growing social repression and paranoia. Dreyer characteristically combines measured pace, long, horizontal pans and close-ups of faces with high contrast lighting and intense acting. Day of Wrath is shot in 1943 in occupied Denmark. The film is often understood as an allegory of the fascist regime, although Dreyer himself has always denied this.

24 May 2013 | 20.30  22.30
Strangers on a train
Release: 1951
Runtime: 101 min
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Director of Photography: Robert Burks
Cast: Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker

Guy Haines, a well-known tennis star that wants to divorce his wife Miriam, meets a rich and strange young man Bruno Anthony on a short train trip. The psychotic Bruno confronts Guy with a theory on how two complete strangers can get away with murder. His plan is relatively simple: the two strangers each agree to kill someone the other person wants disposed of. Guy mockingly dismisses the plan, but has to deal with Bruno’s mad ravings when Miriam is found dead. Robert Burks, who was nominated for an Oscar for his work for Strangers on a train, was Hitchcock’s favorite cinematographer. Strangers on a train was their first joint project. From this developed one of Hollywoods most inspired collaborations, as well as a close personal friendship.

1 June 2013 | 20.30  23.00
In Cold Blood
Release: 1967
Runtime: 134 min
Director: Richard Brooks
Director of Photography: Conrad L. Hall
Cast: Robert Blake, Scott Wilson, John Forsythe

Two ex-prisoners break into a wealthy farmers home to rob the family of their money. When they find out there isn’t any, they kill the entire family to avoid identification. When the police trace the men down, they both seem to have a completely different memory of the crime they had committed. Pending their trial they confess their own version of the truth. The film In Cold Blood was based on a book by Truman Capote. Critics regard the book as a pioneering work of the true crime genre. The outstanding work of cinematographer Conrad L. Hall was nominated for an academy award.

8 June 2013 | 20.30  22.30
The Conformist
Release: 1970
Runtime: 111 min
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Director of Photography: Vittorio Storaro
Cast: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Stefania Sandrelli, Dominique Sanda

The conformist is Marcello Clerici, who is aching to ‘fit in’ in 1930’s Rome. Marcello agrees to kill a political refugee, on orders from the Fascist government, even though the victim-to-be is his college professor. The film is a character study of the kind of person who willingly conforms to the ideological fashions of his day. The screenplay is based on the novel The Conformist by Alberto Moravia. The Conformist is the first film in which Bernardo Bertolucci and Vittorio Storaro collaborated, followed later by many noteworthy films such as Last Tango in Paris and The Last Emperor. Storaro is widely regarded as a master cinematographer. He is inspired by Goethes theory of colors, which focuses in part on the psychological effects that different colors have and the way in which colors influence our perceptions of different situations.

14 June 2013 | 20.30  22.30
Mean Streets
Release: 1973
Runtime: 112 min
Director: Martin Scorsese
Director of Photography: Kent L. Wakefield
Cast: Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, David Proval

Mean Streets is set in the Seventies in New York’s neigbourhood Little Italy. Much of the film’s street-wise dialogue comes from Scorsee’s encouragment of improvisation. The storyline focuses on Charlie Cappa a small time collector for his Uncle Giovanni. Charlie has taken personal responsibility for Johnny Boy, an anarchistic simple-minded hothead who is in financial troubles. Meanwhile Charlie maintains a secret love affair with his epileptic cousin Theresa.The cinematographer Kent Wakeford shot the film using handheld camera techniques and using innovative lighting, both of which have been very influential afterwards in American filmmaking.