Germaine Dulac: The Seashell and the Clergyman + Shorts

Ciné Concert

Based on a script by Antonin Artaud, Dulac’s seminal work The Seashell and the Clergyman is widely recognised as the first surrealist film. A complex, controversial and multi-layered film, it was famously banned by the BBFC which stated: “If there is a meaning, it is doubtless objectionable”. The British Film Institute included The Seashell and the Clergyman on a list of 10 Great Feminist Films, describing it as “a visually imaginative critique of patriarchy – state and church – and of male sexuality”. In The Nursery’s live 9th Optical Music Series new score sonically reinterprets the inherent symbolism of the film and of three more shorts by Dulac, utilising sound design and experimental recording approaches.

Programme:

• La Coquille et le Clergyman | 1927 | 40 mins | 35 mm | silent
• Disque | 1928 | 6 mins | DCP | silent
• Thèmes et Variations | 1928 | 9 mins | DCP | silent
• Étude cinématographique sur une arabesque | 1929 | 8 mins | DCP | silent

With live musical score by In The Nursery which reinterprets the inherent symbolism of the films, using sound design and experimental recording.

As part of Women Shaping the World