SCREENINGS AT THE SHOE FACTORY

Sunday 12 February 2012

The Shoe Factory, 304 Ermou Str / 8.30pm

Entrance: Free


Screening: Into Great Silence
Director: Philip Gröning
Duration: 162’
Language: French and Latin with English subtitles

“A rare celluloid experience that truly transports us into another world” Time Out (UK).

Into Great Silence is the phenomenal box office smash hit about life inside the Grande Chartreuse that has opened to rapturous acclaim across the Western World. The director, Philip Gröning, made his request 19 years ago to film inside the monastery where the last photos taken were in 1960, only to be told that it was 'too early' that maybe in 10 or 15 years... Eventually, as a result of this long standing and trusted relationship between the Film Director and the General Prior, permission to film was granted.

Into Great Silence is a very strict, next to silent documentary on monastic life with no music except the chants in the monastery, no interviews and no commentaries and is the first feature to document life inside the mother house of the legendary Carthusian Order in the French Alps. The viewer is invited to watch the films as part of a meditative experience where the film becomes the monastery rather than depicting one. A film for those who want to embrace awareness, absolute presence and to contemplate the life of men who have devoted themselves to God in the purest form.

The film won the Best Documentary Award in 2006 European Film Awards and the 2005 Bavarian Film Awards, and Special Jury Prize for World Cinema Documentary in SUNDANCE 2006.