Fritz Lang’s Metropolis — A Live Re-Score By Mister Benjamin Speed & DJ TR!P

Since pre­mier­ing in 1927, Metrop­o­lis, arguably the most influ­en­tial silent film ever made, has mainly been seen by audi­ences in short­ened or trun­cated ver­sions. Now, thanks to Mis­ter Ben­jamin Speed and DJ TR!P, it can be appre­ci­ated in its full glory, with an amaz­ing live score accom­pa­nied by vocal­ist, Astrid Pill and cel­list, Zoe Barry.

Pre­mier­ing at the 2005 Ade­laide Film Fes­ti­val, Mis­ter Ben­jamin Speed and DJ TR!P con­ceived, com­posed and recorded a score to Fritz Lang’s mas­ter­piece, Metrop­o­lis, over a 12 month period. The Metrop­o­lis re-score has since had suc­cess­ful sea­sons at ACMI (2005), the 2006 Com­mon­wealth Games Cul­tural Fes­ti­val, Perth Rev­e­la­tions Fes­ti­val (2006), The Syd­ney Opera House (2010) and MONA FOMA (2011) .

The score has recently been re-worked to coin­cide with the newly released 2010 restored ver­sion of Metrop­o­lis, which includes 30 min­utes of newly found footage. This updated score pre­miered at the Ade­laide Film Fes­ti­val in 2011.

“Seduc­tive per­for­mance…. Metrop­o­lis was a once in a life­time expe­ri­ence… Speed and Hopprich’s score was a gift.” — Ade­laide Advertiser

“Metrop­o­lis was out­stand­ing. A tremen­dous per­for­mance at MOFO 2011. The peo­ple loved it. I have always loved that movie, but their score made it even more excit­ing.” — Brian Ritchie, Cura­tor MONA FOMA

“There is no doubt that this is a truly won­der­ful new score, which deserves to be seen as widely as pos­si­ble.” — Kat­rina Sedg­wick, Direc­tor Ade­laide Film Festival

“The New Pol­lu­tants have risen to the chal­lenge with gusto and devised a respon­sive, evoca­tive and inven­tive score.” — Clare Stew­art, Syd­ney Film Fes­ti­val Cre­ative Direc­tor 2007–2010