A Page of Madness (1926)

Directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa in collaboration with artists of Japan’s experimental “School of New Perceptions,” A Page of Madness draws on German Expressionism, Noh theater, and melodrama. Rapid montage, superimposition, and distorted imagery immerse the viewer in the troubled inner world of its characters. Set in a psychiatric hospital the film follows a woman who has lost her mental bearings. Her guilt-ridden husband, now unknown to her, works at the asylum as a janitor. Long believed lost, the film resurfaced in Kinugasa’s warehouse in 1971. Although roughly a third of the original  version remains missing, its beauty and disturbing psychological force are undiminished. A Page of Madness

A 2018 BBC preview of the film described it as “a balletic musing on our subconscious nightmares.”

The Cleveland Silent Film Festival’s presentation of A Page of Madness features an original score by No Exit’s associate director James Praznik and will be performed live by No Exit during the screening.

Cleveland Adventurous minds are welcome!

$25/$22 CMA and CSFF members. For tickets see https://www.clevelandart.org/events/page-madness-1926.