Imagine yourself in the idyllic French countryside in the 1930s. Sometime before dark, a gypsy caravan sets up camp in a field outside of town, luring the locals out for an evening’s fun. The wanderers travel with a film projector, pointing it at the side of a barn. As the images flicker to life beneath the stars, gypsy musicians play their guitars and fiddles, matching every movement on the screen with characteristic virtuosity, passion and humor. Reviving this lost entertainment, The Hot Club of San Francisco presents “Cinema Vivant,” an evening of vintage silent films accompanied by live gypsy swing.
“Cinema Vivant” is a celebration of imagination and innovation. Before World War I, European filmmaker Ladislaw Starewicz pioneered stop-action animation, creating a never-before-seen movie experience. A gifted storyteller who used the new medium of animation to illuminate his fantastic imaginings of the secret lives of ordinary objects, Starewicz has become an obscure cult hero. Two Starewicz films are featured in “Cinema Vivant”—The Cameraman’s Revenge, a charming piece about the marital troubles of beetles and The Mascot, an adventure story about lost toys. On the other side of the Atlantic, American filmmaker Charley Bowers revolutionized the industry in the 1920s by combining animation with live action. There It Is, a recently rediscovered film by Bowers, is a whimsical comedy about a mysterious occurrence investigated by Scotland Yard.
The Hot Club of San Francisco is a group accomplished and versatile musicians celebrating the music of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli’s pioneering Hot Club de France with style and panache. The HCSF borrows the instrumentation of violin, bass and guitars from the original Hot Club while breathing new life into the music with innovative arrangements of classic tunes and original compositions by the group’s superb lead guitarist Paul Mehling. Featuring the amazing violin of twice Grammy Award winner Evan Price and a swinging rhythm section, along with French singer Isabelle Fontaine.
To hear the ensemble live, or on any of their 11 albums, is to be carried back to the 1930s and the small, smoky jazz clubs of Paris and the refined lounges of the famous Hotel Ritz. Often called gypsy jazz, the music of The Hot Club of San Francisco has entranced audiences around the globe for over 20 years. Acoustic Guitar hailed the group’s playing as “intricate, scorching and often brilliant.”
Film Titles:
There It Is, Charley Bowers (1928)
The Cameraman’s Revenge, Ladislaw Starewicz (1912)
The Mascot, Ladislaw Starewicz (1933)
- BUY TICKETS
- $17 advance | $21 door
