Messiah/Complex gives Handel's holiday masterpiece a multilingual makeover, at The Cinematheque December 14
Diverse singers from across the country reinterpret the choral work amid spectacular Canadian settings
The Cinematheque screens Messiah/Complex on December 14 at 7:30 pm
VANCOUVERITES have a chance to experience a different kind of Messiah this holiday season.
The Cinematheque is going to screen Messiah/Complex, the internationally lauded filmed interpretation of George Frederick Handel’s monumnetal choral work, produced by Against the Grain theatre and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
It’s a unique re-envisioning of the work through a postcolonial lens, featuring the voices from every province and territory, and translating it into languages from Dene to Arabic. The singers perform amid cathedrals, snowscapes, skating rinks, and forests, caught in gorgeous cinematography by a staggering 16 production teams.
Look for some familiar faces and voices: recent Early Music Vancouver artist-in-residence, Cree-Métis baritone Jonathon Adams performs a resounding solo by an open fire; and exciting young tenor Spencer Britten represents BC in the opening recitative. Yellowknife’s Leela Gilday also performs a moving Dene translation of “I know that my Redeemer liveth”, set against a snowy backdrop.
Joel Ivany and Renellta Arluk direct while Johannes Debus conducts.
You'll find it just as exultant, if not more so, than the original English choral version; check out the trailer below to see what we mean. The New York Times perhaps puts it best, calling it a “Messiah for the multitides”.
Janet Smith is an award-winning arts journalist who has spent more than two decades immersed in Vancouver’s dance, screen, design, theatre, music, opera, and gallery scenes. She sits on the Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle.
Related Articles
Screenings taking place from September 26 to October 6 include Luther: Never Too Much, Disco’s Revenge, So Surreal: Behind the Masks, and nine others
Faced with tragedy, Colombian-Canadian film and video artist builds a haunting collage about two indivisible spirits at Vancouver Latin American Film Festival
The creative force behind Valentina or the Serenity delves into mourning through the perspective of a young girl
Quick takes on La Suprema and Outsider Girls, two energized offerings at the upcoming ode to new cinema
Canadian highlights include Oscar contender Universal Language, The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal, and Mexican closer Emilia Pérez
Agnieszka Holland’s new film focuses on the zone between Belarus and Poland, where refugees are stuck in a deadly political battle
Last of Polygon Gallery’s outdoor screenings feature the cult hit’s battling youth gangs in a famously inspired array of ‘70s costuming
Nothing is that simple in Wei Shujun’s film, the latest from one of the rising stars of international cinema
Premiering at VIFF Centre and the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre, remarkable film about the dark legacy of Williams Lake institution wields quiet power
Opening with Colombian director Felipe Holguín Caro’s La Suprema, festival’s 22nd edition celebrates more than two decades of cutting-edge cinema