Ether 2011: Adrian Utley (Portishead) & Will Gregory (Goldfrapp) collaborate for The Passion of Joan of Arc

Adrian Utley

Will Gregory, photo: Chris Chrisodoulou

Shot in France in 1927 by Carl Theodore Dreyer, the silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc was the victim of 55 years of bad luck. Censored before its release in 1928, the original negative was destroyed by fire. Then a second negative re-edited by Dreyer from alternate takes was also thought lost to fire. For more than half a century, this great classic of silent film was known only in mutilated copies, or in a sonorised version which made numerous changes to the original.

Then in 1981, an original Danish copy, complete and in very good condition, was miraculously discovered in a closet of a Norwegian mental institution.

Now Goldfrapp’s Will Gregory and Portishead’s Adrian Utley have collaborated to give The Passion of Joan of Arc a 21st-century make-over creating an original score set to the silent film.

Southbank Centre welcomes this fusion of 15th-century French heroism, 20th-century movie history and 21st-century music-making to close Ether festival 2011.

Catch The Passion of Joan of Arc at Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of Ether 2011 on Thursday 28 April. Get tickets here