The opening of the 13th Grossmann Fantastic Film and Wine Festival on Tuesday, July 11th will feature a special screening of Fritz Lang's sci-fi masterpiece Metropolis, accompanied by live music by Mitja Reichenberg.
There are several reasons for presenting Metropolis at this year's edition of the Grossmann festival. The first, and most obvious, is that Metropolis is a classical science-fiction film and as such needs no special excuse to be screened at a festival dedicated to the genre cinema. The second, and more important, is the 90th anniversary of the premiere of this Lang's masterpiece. But there is even more to it, and it concerns the connection between Fritz Lang and Dr. Karol Grossmann, the pioneer of Slovenian cinema, after whom our festival is named. It is a proven fact that in 1915, during WW1, the young Fritz Lang, being a non-commissioned officer in the army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time, had been staying for several months in the home of Dr. Grossmann, here in Ljutomer. Fritz Lang left behind some of his artwork, and though we know nothing of the discussions between these two men, both very cultivated, we'd like to imagine that cinema, dear to Dr. Grossmann and later the life's preoccupation of Fritz Lang, was one of the subjects they were talking about. Is there any better place for celebrating the 90th anniversary of Metropolis than at the festival, named after a man who was having Fritz Lang as his guest here, at his home in Ljutomer? For us, it is a cause for great celebration.
Mitja Reichenberg, a renowned expert on film music, who authored several books and numerous articles on the subject, has a profound knowledge on the silent era film scores. He will be joining us with a live performance, accompanying Metropolis on the opening day of the festival.