Creation: January 2012 at the Lumière Institute / Lyon
In collaboration with the Lumière Institute and mk2.

ACTUEL REMIX confronts the music of key artists from the "electro" scene with that of composers referred to as "contemporary," aiming to break down the perceived impenetrable boundaries between these musical worlds.

On the occasion of the release of the fully restored version of the film METROPOLIS (Fritz Lang, 1927), the group remixes the music of RICHIE HAWTIN, a major figure in the techno scene, with the work of IANNIS XENAKIS, a pioneer of 20th-century music. The powerfully rhythmic and minimalist universe of Richie Hawtin serves as the "engine," the vital pulse of the musical framework for this cine-concert, upon which the richness and modernity of "Xenakis’ material" unfolds with an intensity reminiscent of the expressionist style of the film.

METROPOLIS

Metropolis is a 1927 German film directed by Fritz Lang, starring Alfred Abel, Gustav Fröhlich, Brigitte Helm, and Rudolf Klein-Rogge, with a screenplay by Thea von Harbou. The film is a monumental, visionary silent epic set in a futuristic city of the third millennium. In this society, the workers form an enslaved caste, relegated to an underground city, while an elite privileged class enjoys a paradisiacal idleness above ground. Freder, the son of the city's master, falls in love with Maria, a young woman from the catacombs.

A gigantic and visionary fresco of the silent era, Metropolis represents the pinnacle of German expressionist cinema, as well as one of the greatest achievements of silent film. Following the pessimism of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Fritz Lang expands this theme to include both architectural and social order. Lang famously stated, "Metropolis was born from the first glance I cast upon the skyscrapers of New York in October 1924."

This version was originally presented in Berlin in 1927 but was later cut by Paramount to facilitate its release. The missing scenes were believed to be lost until 2008, when they were discovered at the Film Museum in Buenos Aires, Argentina, much to the excitement of cinephiles.