Technofutures Film Series: Algol: Tragedy of Power

Explore the intersection of avant-garde art and early film in the Technofutures: Science Fiction Film and Modernist Design film series, showcasing three landmark sci-fi films produced in the 1920s in France, Germany, and Soviet Russia. These thrilling silent masterpieces feature ambitious art design to match the global (and even interstellar) scope of the stories they tell. Selected by Diane Wei Lewis, assistant professor of Film and Media Studies in Arts & Sciences, the films highlight the influence of modern art—Cubism, Expressionism, and Constructivism—on film and set design. Lewis will introduce each of the films, which will also be accompanied by a musical score.

Expressionist art is the inspiration for Algol: Tragedy of Power (dir. Hans Werckmeister, Germany, 1920), in which a starman shares his extraterrestrial technology with a coal miner, allowing the miner to produce limitless renewable energy and close the mines—with unexpected consequences. Digitally restored by the Munich Film Museum, this rare film can be viewed again on the big screen and admired in of its intricate detail.

Free and open to the public. Complimentary medium popcorn for Kemper Art Museum members.