About

Presented as part of the 'Ghost Stories: Spirits, Hauntings and Worlds Beyond' program, this Live Music & Film event brings together two gothic horror masterpieces from the silent era: Yevgeni Bauer's After Death 1915 (45 mins) and Jean Epstein's The Fall of the House of Usher 1928 (65 mins). This event will include a 20 minute intermission between the films.

After Death is a brooding tale of obsession from Soviet filmmaker Yevgeni Bauer, in which the line between life and death becomes increasingly blurred. The film follows a reclusive young scholar who falls in love with the lead actress of a play he attends. They share a surprise connection, however their romance soon takes a fateful turn. Although not as well known as later Soviet cinematic pioneers such as Sergei Eisenstein and Dziga Vertov, Bauer was an innovative and skilful director with a theatrical flair for enthralling melodrama.

French filmmaker Jean Epstein's The Fall of the House of Usher is a spellbinding adaptation of the classic Edgar Allan Poe story. Roderick Usher resides in a crumbling mansion with his dying wife Madeleine. A visit from an old friend coincides with the death of Madeleine — a death that Roderick, in his fraying sanity, cannot accept. Renowned for its bewitching atmosphere and experimental flourishes, Epstein's film is a masterful achievement in otherworldly filmmaking.

After Death will screen from an imported 35mm print. The Fall of the House of Usher will screen from a digital restoration. Organist David Bailey will accompany the films on the Gallery's 1929 Wurlitzer organ.