Man With A Movie Camera + Live Score by Underground Lovers

Man With A Movie Camera + Live Score by Underground Lovers

DZIGA VERTOV | RUSSIA | 1929 | 64'min

PRESENTED BY: CASTLEMAINE DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL

"No actors, no script, just the rhythm of life."

Man With A Movie Camera (1929) is a radical, exuberant silent documentary that captures a day in Soviet cities through dazzling visual invention, rhythmic editing and bold cinematic structure. Directed by Dziga Vertov, filmed by Mikhail Kaufman and edited by Yelizaveta Svilova, this avant-garde masterpiece film transforms everyday life into a dynamic cinematic portrait.

Despite its exuberant style and radical innovation, Man With A Movie Camera was condemned by Stalin’s regime and quietly vanished from Soviet theatres after a brief run

+ Live Score by Underground Lovers 

For this special Castlemaine Documentary Festival event, Underground Lovers perform an improvised live score, responding to the film’s visual rhythms, tempo shifts and structural patterns. Seeing Man With A Movie Camera with a live, improvised score heightens its energy, emotion and momentum in a way recorded soundtracks simply can’t, drawing audiences into a fully immersive cinema experience. Underground Lovers draw on Vertov's maxim of "peace between man and machine" using predominantly analogue synths and electric guitars to create a searing and energised soundtrack. 

Presented at the Capitol Theatre, this is a rare opportunity to experience a silent era masterpiece re-animated through sound and live performance.