Second Act
1727 Haight St. SF
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ELECTRIC SHADOW THEATER: FILM TRUTH + SURREAL SOUND BY FUSHIGI KENKYŪKAI (不思議研究会)

◉ Films by Jean Cocteau and Robert Florey / Slavko Vorkapić ◉ with music by Beth Custer, Thomas Dimuzio, Tom Djll, Joe Lasqo, David Michalak & special guest from Sweden, Biggi Vinkeloe.

Fushigi Kenkyūkai are a collective of film and sound artists mixing veterans of Bay Area "wayang sinema" ensembles like Clubfoot Orchestra & Reel Change with pioneers of electronic, computer-based, and invented instruments.


The name Fushigi Kenkyūkai (不思議研究会) means "Paranormal Research Society". The truth is out there… beyond normal reality. The program uses two surrealist film classics to find it.


Continuing from their performances of Blood Of A Poet (Le sang d'un poète), the first film in Cocteau's Orphic Trilogy, Fushigi Kenyūkai now move to the second, Orphée, a high peak of post-WW2 cinema.

◉  Line-up:

— Beth Custer (bass & other clarinets | vocals)
— Thomas Dimuzio (electronics)
— Tom Djll (surrealist prepared trumpet | electronics)
— Joe Lasqo (piano | MSP/laptop | objects)
— David Michalak (skatchbox | lap-steel guitar | film curator)
— and special guest from Sweden, Biggi Vinkeloe (sax | flute)

🎥 Robert Florey / Slavko Vorkapić: The Life and Death of 9413: a Hollywood Extra: (13 min, followed by brief reel change…)

A film miracle that was made in in 1928 for $96 (almost $1,350 in today's dollars…). The nothing budget forced the film-makers into radical effects experiments based on expressionist shadow-puppetry, popsicle sticks, and surrealist spunk.

An aspiring actor with stars in his eyes comes to Hollywood for a meeting with the Producer, Mr. Almighty, who brushes aside his letter of introduction to scrawl the number 9143 on his forehead… and then things get weird.

With support from actors like Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, who knew first hand of the world depicted in the film, this pioneering American surrealist film attained unexpectedly wide distribution and success.

🎥 Jean Cocteau: Orphée: (95 min)

A Dark Princess makes a dramatic entrance at Orphée's local, the Café des Poètes, with her kept poet, Cègeste, in train… a poet shortly to be run down by two mysterious bikers. 

The Princess bundles Orphée into her Rolls-Royce to help her "take Cègeste to the hospital", but it soon becomes clear their destination lies elsewhere as they traverse a negative landscape, accompanied by the two bikers as dada poetry comes over the car radio.

This first shamanic visit to the Underworld gives Orphée two unusual gifts — an addiction to the poison nectar of the car radio's dada poetry for his inspiration and a practical knowledge of the Underworld which is useful in his quest to redeem his wife Eurydice's soul when she dies shortly after his return…. 

a quest complicated by a love triangle with the Underworld Princess…


Discounted online purchase @ http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2549237

Cost: $10 online advance purchase, $15 @ door

Audio samples in which musicians at this event play:

Videos featuring musicians playing at this event