Man With A Movie Camera - Soundtracks

Soundtracks

The film, originally released in 1929, was silent, and accompanied in theaters with live music. It has since been released a number of times with different soundtracks:

• 1995 – New composition was performed by the Alloy Orchestra of Cambridge, Massachusetts, based on notes left by Vertov. It incorporates sound effects such as sirens, babies crying, crowd noise, etc. Readily available on several different DVD versions.
• 1996 – Norwegian composer Geir Jenssen (aka Biosphere) was commissioned by the Tromsø International Film Festival to write a new soundtrack for the movie, using the director's written instructions for the original accompanying piano player. Jenssen wrote half of the soundtrack, turning the other half to Per Martinsen (aka Mental Overdrive). It was used for the Norwegian version Mannen med filmkameraet at the 1996 TIFF . Scored movie not available after the festival. The soundtrack was released in 2001 on Substrata 2.
• 1999 – In the Nursery version, made for the Bradford International Film Festival. Currently available on a few DVD versions, often paired with the Alloy Orchestra score as an alternate soundtrack.
• 2001 – Steve Jansen and Claudio Chianura recorded a live soundtrack for a showing of the film at the Palazzina Liberty, in Milan on 11 December 1999. This was subsequently released on CD as the album Kinoapparatom in 2001.
• 2002 – A version was released with a soundtrack composed by Jason Swinscoe and performed by the British jazz and electronic outfit The Cinematic Orchestra (see Man with a Movie Camera (The Cinematic Orchestra album)). Originally made for the Porto 2000 Film Festival. It was also released on DVD in limited numbers by Ninja Tune. This DVD edition is currently very much in demand and goes for prices higher than the other DVD versions.
• 2002 – A score for the film by Michael Nyman was premiered performed by the Michael Nyman Band on May 17, 2002 at London's Royal Festival Hall. A British Film Institute DVD of the film was released with Nyman's score. This score is readily available on several different DVD editions. It has not been issued on CD, but some of the score is reworked from material Nyman wrote for the Sega Saturn video game Enemy Zero, which had a limited CD release, and Nyman performs a brief excerpt, "Odessa Beach" on his album, The Piano Sings.
• 2003 June – Boston-based multi-theremin ensemble The Lothars performed a semi-improvised soundtrack accompanying a screening of the film at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, Massachusetts. They repeated their performance three years later, in December, 2006 at the Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn, New York.
• 2006 Absolut Medien, Berlin released a DVD with the 3soundtracks from Michael Nyman, In the nursery, and a new soundtrack from Werner Cee
• 2007 November – France based group Art Zoyd presented a scenic version of the film with addition video by artist Cecile Babiole. A studio recording of the soundtrack was released on CD in 2012: Eyecatcher/Man with a Movie Camera.
• 2008 – Norwegian electronic jazz trio Halt the Flux performed their interpretation of the soundtrack for Man with a Movie Camera in Bergen International Film Festival. The trio consists of Anders Wasserfall, Jørgen Vaage & Bjørnar Thyholdt.
• 2008 October – London based Cinematic Orchestra undertook a show featuring a screening of Vertov's film, which preceded the re-issue of the Man With A Movie Camera DVD, in November.
• 2008 November – San Francisco Bay Area based Tricks of the Light Orchestra accompanied a screening of the film on Sunday, November 30 at Brainwash Cafe in San Francisco.
• 2009 July; Mexican composer Alex Otaola performed live a new soundtrack for the film at Mexico's National Cinematheque. Aided by the 'Ensamble de Cámara/Acción' (Adrian Terrazas-bass clarinet, Daniel Zlotnik-clarinet/flute, María Emilia Martínez-flute, Luca Ortega-flute/piano, Carlos Maldonado-upright, Jose María Arreola-drums/percussion), which consists of members from The Mars Volta, Los Dorados, San Pascualito Rey, Klezmerson and LabA
• 2009 The New York City based Voxare String Quartet performed music by Soviet Modernist composers to accompany a screening of the film.
• 2010 August – Irish instrumental post-rock band 3epkano accompanied a screening of the film with an original live soundtrack in Fitzwilliam Square in Dublin
• 2010 July – Ukrainian guitarist and composer Vitaliy Tkachuk with his quartet performed his own soundtrack for the film at a first Ukrainian silent cinema festival "Mute nights" in Odessa, the city where this movie was made.
• 2011: The French pianist Yann Le Long, the violoncellist Philippe Cusson and the percussionist Stéphane Grimalt performed for the first time the soundtrack written by Le Long for the film (20 May 2011) at the Centre Culturel du Vieux Couvent, Muzillac, France.