Logo Goethe-Institut

Hong Kong

|

7:30 PM

The Golem: How He Came Into the World (Original acompaniment: Jan Brauer)

Film|Machines Like Us: Desires and Technology in German Cinema
- programme cancelled -

  • Louis Koo Cinema, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hongkong

  • $ 80/64* *Tickets for full-time students, senior citizens, aged 60 or above, people with disabilities and the minder and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients.| Group Booking Discount: 20% off for purchase of 4 or more above standard tickets. | 20% discount to Goethe-Institut Hongkong’s students with a valid proof

Der Golem © Murnau Stiftung

The Golem: How He Came Into the World
Director: Paul Wegener, Carl Boese
Music: Jan Brauer
Germany | 1920 | 76 mins | Silent with score| DCP |B&W

The dangerous contradictions created by tyranny

Suffering under an absolute monarchy in Prague in the 1600s, Rabbi Lowe, a magician and master of the Black Art, wants to prevent the persecution of his Jewish people, and creates a giant warrior, the golem, to protect their safety. The golem is sculpted of clay and animated by the spirit of Astaroth, and is a seemingly indestructible juggernaut with superpower, performing acts of great heroism, yet equally capable of dreadful violence. When the rabbi’s assistant takes control of the golem and attempts to use him for selfish gain, the golem evades human influence...

This finely rendered expressionist work of unleashed desire and potential damnation is based on a Jewish folklore. Co-director, Paul Wegener, plays the golem. The film was one of the most successful German silent film productions, both artistically and financially. Despite its bleakness, The Golem still bursts with brightness and hope, and is a masterpiece of German horror cinema.

Commissioned by Goethe-Institut Hongkong, Berlin-based DJ and electronic music composer Jan Brauer will accompany this classic silent movie with a contemporary score.
 

About the score composer

Jan Brauer © © Jan Brauer Jan Brauer © Jan Brauer
Jan Brauer is a DJ from Berlin as well as an electronic music composer. He co-founded the group Brandt Brauer Frick in 2009 who has made appearances at festivals such as Coachella, Glastonbury, and Haldern Pop. Jan also works on crossover-projects with classical music, theatre and films. In 2017, Brauer composed a new film music score for Sergei Eisenstein’s classic 1925 silent movie Battleship Potemkin and was premiered to a full house of enthusiastic audience at the Hong Kong Arts Centre.

Click here to see the full programme of Machine Like Us
 

Related links

Hong Kong Movie 6