Cinematic Silent Rhythm - Program 1 - Pablo Swiss & SB the Moor

This music performance features SoCal hip hop, electronic and noise artists creating and performing live original scores to some of the earliest films of the avant-garde.

Pablo Swiss is the musical project of Puerto Rican composer Alain Emile. The project focuses on experimentation with sound design, field recordings, and improvisation. Pablo Swiss’ debut album Seven was featured on Bandcamp as one of the top releases of the month, and subsequent releases have been featured in publications like Remezcla. Pablo Swiss is also a founding member of Templo Animal, an indie collective that helps Latine experimental artists to release music and create community. Other releases include Los Angeles-based label Mystery Circles. Outside of Pablo Swiss, Alain Emile works as a film composer, and his work has premiered at festivals such as Cannes Short Corner, Los Angeles Latino Film Festival, and Santa Barbara Film Fest. His debut feature film is set for a theatrical release by Lionsgate / Grindstone Ent. in 2023.

ABOUT THE FILMS:

Mannus Franken & Joris Ivens - “Regen” (1929)

A 1929 Dutch short documentary film, it has four key elements that have cemented its place in documentary history: its place in the long career of director Joris Ivens (1898-1989), the Dutch Film Canon, the City Symphony film movement, and the history of avant-garde documentaries. Ivens created 13 noteworthy documentaries, whose interrelation and evolution loosely model the trajectory of documentary film as a whole.

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Christian McLaurin (they/them), known as SB the Moor (fka Signor Benedick the Moor), is a California-based composer, emcee, multi-instrumentalist, music educator, visual artist, comic, and filmmaker known for work with underground labels Deathbomb Arc (death grips, clipping., JPEGMAFIA), and Ruby Yacht (R.A.P Ferreira–fka milo, Pink Navel, Hemlock Ernst–aka Samuel Herring of Future Islands). Throughout numerous projects over the last nine years, SB’s style remains experimental and forward-thinking. SB is best known for their live shows, which take on a theatrical, mystical quality, eschewing traditional “concert” routine for reactive and responsive emotional storytelling, equally influenced by the tradition of American emcees and traditional West African Griots.

ABOUT THE FILMS:

Paul Strand & Charles Sheeler - “Manhatta” (1921)

“Manhatta” documents the look of early 20th-century Manhattan. With the city as subject, the film consists of 65 shots sequenced in a loose non-narrative structure, beginning with the Staten Island ferry approaching Manhattan and ending with a sunset view from a skyscraper. It is considered by some to be the first American avant-garde film.

Ralph Steiner - “H20”  (1929)

Ralph Steiner was an American photographer, pioneer documentarian, and a key figure among avant-garde filmmakers in the 1930s. “H2O” (1929) is a cinepoem showing water in its many forms.

Hans Richter - “Rhythmus 21” (1921)

Hans Richter, a German avant-garde artist who had contacts with “Der Blaue Reiter,” Cubism, and Dada movements, was an early experimenter in abstract filming.