This event is part of the Qatar-Germany Year of Culture 2017. It is organized by the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra and the Doha Film Institute in partnership with Qatar Museums, the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Goethe-Institut Gulf Region.
The German silent film from 1920 “The Cabinet of Dr Caligari” by director Robert Wiene will be screened in its restored version. The Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra will accompany the film with the 2011 composed music by Stéphane Fromageot. Guest conductor of the evening is Stefanos Tsialis.
The film
“The Cabinet of Dr Caligari” is the most brilliant example of German Expressionism. The angular settings and exaggerated makeup emphasize the bizarre world occupied by the mad Caligari. The film’s cramped, off-center and uneasy world is perfectly communicated to the viewer. It is a plunge into the mind of insanity that severs all ties with the rational world. Throughout the story the imagery of instability parades forth with twisted streets, over-hanging buildings and distorted scenery. The result is alien, unique and powerfully oblivious to the usual movie techniques – an impressive statement given the devastation of Germany after the First World War.
“The Cabinet of Dr Caligari” is a tale of a mysterious showman who arrives in a small European town at the time of its annual fair. He intends to amaze the crowds with a genuine somnambulist who knows the past and sees the future. That same night, a series of bizarre murders begins to occur. Francis and Alan go to see Dr. Caligari‘s show, and the somnambulist Cesare predicts that Alan will be dead by dawn, which actually happens. Francis suspects that Cesare and Caligari have something to do with Alan‘s death. He follows Caligari´s track to an insane asylum. When Francis goes to see the head of the asylum, he realizes that it is Caligari himself. Finally, Caligari is exposed as a madman, and Francis, helped by attendants from the asylum, arrests Caligari.
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