Man with a Movie Camera + Live Score by Underground Lovers Moda Discoteca

Experience Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera with a live, improvised score at Capitol Theatre. Underground Lovers Moda Discoteca perform in real time, echoing the film's kinetic montage to amplify energy, emotion and immersion. Presented by Castlemaine Documentary Film Festival, this is a rare silent‑era event.

Man with a Movie Camera (1929) is a radical, exuberant portrait of urban life, assembled from the rhythm of everyday moments. Directed by Dziga Vertov, filmed by Mikhail Kaufman and edited by Yelizaveta Svilova, this avant‑garde silent documentary dispenses with actors and script, relying on dazzling montage, visual invention and bold structure to transform work, leisure and movement into kinetic cinema. Its startling innovation was condemned by Stalin's regime, and the film disappeared from Soviet theatres after a brief run, only to be rediscovered as a towering influence on modern documentary and editing.

This special Castlemaine Documentary Film Festival event at Capitol Theatre reanimates the classic with a live score by Underground Lovers Moda Discoteca. Performing in real time, the musicians respond to tempo shifts, visual motifs and structural patterns, heightening the film's energy, emotion and momentum in a way recorded soundtracks cannot match. Led by filmmaker and screen media lecturer Vincent Giarrusso, the creative team treats each scene as a narrative moment, shaping music to enhance mood and sensation while honouring Vertov's original vision. Expect a fully immersive cinema experience where image and sound converse across eras. For fans of film history, contemporary music and boundary‑pushing art, it is an unmissable encounter with a masterpiece.

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RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

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