Pere Portabella, the legendary Spanish Surrealist and 78-year-old enfant terrible, was honored with a retrospective last fall at the Museum of Modern Art. His newest and arguably greatest film, The Silence Before Bach, "brings Bach's music to life with a mysterious, magnificent blend of drama, documentary, and quasi-surrealist whimsy. Beginning with a scene of a player piano rattling off the Goldberg Variations while rolling through a bright, bare loft, Portabella tickles the senses with a series of skits... From puckish humor and borderline kitsch, a great and serious notion emerges: the construction of modern Europe on the basis of classical music." (Richard Brody, The New Yorker) This film will not be available on DVD and is only in the country for a short period of time—don't miss the rare opportunity to see it! In Spanish, Catalan and German with English subtitles. 35mm
2008, color, 1 hour 42 minutes, Spain