IOIC Night Session: «The New Babylon»

Against the background of the suppression of the Paris Commune in 1871, the film tells the story of Louise and Jean, whose love has no chance in times of openly fought class struggle. Louise, a saleswoman in the department store 'The New Babylon' is a committed communard, Jean, a politically clueless young man from the countryside, is a soldier in the French army and is forced to fight the Commune.

The New Babylon (1929) thrives on its furious pace and cartoonish exaggeration. In densely composed tableaux inspired by the paintings of the French Impressionists and the novels of Zola, Parisian life is restaged in Leningrad. The directing duo Kosinzew & Trauberg developed a unique film aesthetic with a radical montage whose experimental character makes the smoothing interventions of the censors forgettable.

The film is set to music by Abstract Musette, the energetic duo featuring Jonas Kocher on accordion and Joke Lanz on turntables. Kocher's unorthodox handling of his instrument and Lanz's breathtaking manipulations of the turntables complement each other perfectly.