Film in the Gallery: The Phantom Carriage (1921), featuring live accompaniment by Michael D. Mortilla

Join us for another Film in the Gallery! This month, we will be screening Victor Sjöström’s The Phantom Carriage (Körkarlen). A sometimes-overlooked standout from the silent era, The Phantom Carriage was voted by FLM—Sweden’s leading film magazine—as the greatest Swedish film of all time, earning the honor above the major of films of Ingmar Bergman and other outstanding Swedish directors. This horror-adjacent film follows David Holm, as he is taken by the ghostly driver of the eponymous carriage and forced to contend with the ways he has selfishly lived his life.

We are beyond excited to present this Swedish masterpiece with the live piano accompaniment of Michael D. Mortilla!

VIP tickets include priority seating and a free drink and snack from our bar.

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Michael D. Mortilla has worked as a full-time, freelance journeyman composer for over half a century. His many commissions include feature films by Frank Capra for Sony/Columbia Pictures, countless scores for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, as well as original scores for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Library of Congress, Olympic Games, Martha Graham Dance Company, and many others. Michael scored the World’s First Internet broadcast of a film in association with the American Film Institute and was resident composer on the faculty at UC Santa Barbara for 14 years. He has lectured at CALARTS and has a teaching license for the City of New York Public Schools. Michael is also the entertainment curator for the Catalina Island Museum for Art & History. He is largely self-taught.