Cinetopia in collaboration with the Edinburgh Film Guild present ‘Finis Terrae’, the 1929 French silent film written and directed by Jean Epstein, plus a live performance of a newly composed original score by Edinburgh-based multi-instrumentalist Dan Abrahams and French drummer Phillipe Boudot.
On the treeless, windswept islet of Bannec off the Breton coast, four seaweed harvesters set up camp for the season, smoke billowing from their pyres of burning algae. Trouble arises when a fight between Ambroise and Jean-Marie over a broken wine bottle results in injury to the young Ambroise, leading to simmering tensions and distrust…
When Ambroise’s condition worsens, Jean-Marie discovers him, delirious and feverish, and decides to take him to nearby Ouessant island, across the fog-laden sea, to reach a doctor.
Shot in a documentary-style, using local non-actors, Jean Epstein’s camera reveals an unforgiving, isolated environment where men live a hard, rudimentary existence of toil against the sea and the elements. Through experimental techniques, Epstein frames the landscape, the sky, and the waters in a highly poetic visual style, rich in atmosphere, and a dual sense of menace and beauty.
Trailer: Finis Terrae (not the newly composed music)
Tickets: Book your tickets online or contact 0131 285 6030
Location:
Institut français d’Écosse (French Institute of Scotland)
Institute Library (1st Floor)
West Parliament Square
Edinburgh EH1 1RF
(The Institut français d’Écosse is fully accessible with step-free access.)