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”.

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 a piano accompaniment by Eunice Martins.

About Eunice Martins:

Pianist in residence at the Arsenal Institute for Film in Berlin, Eunice also accompanies films in many international festivals and venues, including the Giornate del Cinema Muto in Pordenone, Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna, the Brussels Cinematheque and the Auditorium du Louvre in Paris. She composes music and does sound design for both cinema and theatre, and teaches at various universities around Europe.

As part of Women Shaping the World