Brand upon the Brain! May 7, 2007

Music Meets Movies at the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival in Distinctive Live & Onstage Events.

Joan Chen will narrate SFIFF favorite Guy Maddin’s faux-autobiographical masterwork, which mines the rich territories of his youth and spins them into a fantasy of familial discontent. The film’s original score will be performed live by a 13-piece ensemble, with foley artists and a “castrato” adding to the fun.

A companion piece of sorts to the exceptional silent installation-feature Cowards Bend the Knee, the semiautobiographical Brand upon the Brain! mines the rich territories of director Guy Maddin’s youth and spins them into a delirious fantasy of familial discontent. At the edge of the sea stands a lighthouse, once the location of an orphanage. There, some years ago, lived Guy and Sis, a brother and sister under the constant observation of their mother yet entirely ignored by their father, an ingenious inventor. When Wendy Hale, amateur harpist and half of twin detective team the Lightbulb Kids, arrives to investigate a mysterious regenerative nectar harvested from the orphans, things grow ever more complicated. A love triangle becomes a quadrangle when Wendy masquerades as her brother Chance and goes in search of clues. A fever dream of Freudian impulses and horror show theatrics, Maddin devours 100 years of film history whole and, like the ersatz Guy’s painting of the lighthouse, covers the screen with a 12-chapter outpouring of his various obsessions. Brand upon the Brain! is Maddin’s eighth feature-length film in nearly 20 years (he’s made some 20 shorts during this time as well), and the first to be filmed outside his native Canada (and, therein, his first “foreign” film). At this special screening, the film’s original score will be performed live by a 13-piece ensemble, with three onstage foley artists, a benshi-like narrator and a “castrato” adding to the fun. SFIFF favorite Maddin received last year’s Persistence of Vision Award, and this year will be on hand again to see his latest masterwork augmented by a particularly gifted lineup of performers, including Joan Chen in the role of the narrator.

Brand upon the Brain! Monday, May 7, 8:00 pm Castro Theatre
Tickets: $20 general/$15 San Francisco Film Society members
Part of the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 26 – May 10)
For tickets, visit www.sffs.org or call 925.866.9559.

The 50th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 26 – May 10) features several special film programs with live musical accompaniment at the historic Castro Theatre. From iconic rocker Jonathan Richman debuting an original score for a 1921 silent Swedish classic to a 13-piece ensemble performing to Guy Maddin’s latest avant-garde feature narrated live by Joan Chen, the International seeks to let audiences experience film in new ways.

Special support for this program generously provided by the Consulate General of Canada.

Official Website: http://www.sffs.org