RE-RELEASE

There will be an admission price of €12 for these special 70mm screenings.

With the very existence of film as a medium now under threat from digital technology, the 70mm movie Baraka provides a vivid reminder of what we are in danger of losing. The wide-gauge 70mm process (standard film is 35mm) was developed by Hollywood in the 1950s to bolster its already inflated epics, but Baraka uses the technology for very different ends. Made in the early 1990s by Ron Fricke, who photographed the similar Koyaanisqatsi, it’s a non-verbal cinematic poem that provides a visually stunning series of scenes from around the world to make some profound and occasionally portentous statements about man’s effect on the planet. A very green film, its implicit message is that the raison d’etre of the modern technological age is one of systematic destruction. However one reads its extraordinary images, there’s no denying the awesome beauty and sheer impact of the film’s perfectly composed and crystal-clear photography. These 70mm screenings should prove an unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime experience. (Notes by Peter Walsh.)