A searingly beautiful hymn to nature, Oleksandr Dovzhenko’s silent film Earth (1930) distils timeless, universal messages about life and death, adding lashings of Ukrainian spirit for good measure. Banned only nine days after its release, it is set during the collectivisation process that birthed the Soviet Union, and has since become recognised as one of cinema’s supreme visual masterpieces—ranked in The Guardian’s top ten silent films of all time.
For this exclusive screening in the dramatic surroundings of Glasgow Cathedral, Ukrainian musicians Misha Kalinin and Roksana Smirnova perform a new, jazz-based score they have composed especially for this event—impressionistic soundscapes and atmospheric improvisations adding new dimensions to Dovzhenko’s iconic close-ups and vast, sweeping landscapes.
