The Passion of Joan of Arc:
Silent Film With Live Music
Featuring Filip Presseisen, organist
A transcendent masterpiece of the silent film era, The Passion of Joan of Arc is a vivid, immersive journey through the agonies of martyrdom. Carl Theodor Dreyer’s expressionistic, intimate techniques immerse viewers in the hours before Joan’s fateful trial. Classical music rising star Dr. Filip Presseisen will accompany the 1928 film on Northrop's historic Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ. Known for his ingenious use of the organ, the concert musician serves as head of the Instrumental Department at the Archdiocesan School of Music in Krakow, Poland, and is the winner of the 2015 International Silent Film Competition held in Berlin, Germany.
Free for UMN students; registration required.
“Filip Presseisen's improvisations were unreservedly delightful...the sound of the organ under Presseisen's fingers was simply marvelous, clear, malleable, housed in the beautiful acoustics of the concert hall.”—Telewizja Racjonalista
“Presseisen filled the hearts of the audience. Soft, flowing, devotional, with varied variations in tempo and volume, the organist conveyed a view of the creation of the world that was hopeful.”—Schwäbische Post
The content below derives from the Northrop Across Campus Program that supports Northrop's mission towards intersections between performing arts and education for the benefit of all participants now and for generations to come.
Find ways to make thematic connections to these suggested topics:
Cinematography
Filmmaking
History of film
Silent film
Music: Organ Performance, Composition, Music for Film
French/European Studies
Medieval Studies
Architecture
Religious Studies
Gender Studies
European History
Take a deeper dive with these resources that provide additional information about the performers, the history of the artform, and the artistic process.
Links:
Organist Dr. Filip Presseisen website
Presseisen organ improvisation video
The New York Times Archive: Maria Falconetti Find in UofM Library
TIME: “The 100 Best Movies Of The Past 10 Decades”: The Passion of Joan of Arc
Roger Ebert Review: The Passion of Joan of Arc
Library of Congress: Joan of Arc - French Women & Feminists in History
Start a conversation about the performance or encourage reflection, using these questions as inspiration.
The Passion of Joan of Arc, directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer in 1928, reimagines the final hours prior to Joan's fateful trial. In a New York Times review in 1929, Maria Falconetti's performance was lauded as "[rising] above everything in this artistic achievement."
This silent film features live accompaniment from renowned organist and improviser Dr. Filip Presseisen. Presseisen is head of the Instrumental Department at the Archdiocesan School of Music in Krakow, Poland, and won the 2015 International Cinema Organ Competition and Feliks Nowowiejski International Organ Competition.
Dreyer’s surrealist artistic vision and Falconetti’s expressive performance create vivid historical fiction about the death of nineteen-year-old Joan of Arc. Joan lived in medieval France and fought the British in the Hundred Years’ War after believing God had chosen her to lead the fight (she was later canonized as the patron saint of France).
