The Klezmer Project

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PART OF BRAHMS AT THE RED HEDGEHOG WEEKEND
If you had turned up at the popular C19 Viennese tavern, 'Zum Roten Igel' ('The Red Hedgehog') - you might well have bumped in to Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn or Brahms, enjoying jokes, goulash, gypsy songs and general banter. This weekend's events explore the kinds of Hungarian music that Brahms might well have heard there. Come and explore how these influences found their way into his greatest works, not least his sublime Clarinet Quintet..
Event 4: The Klezmer Project film
The Quarry Theatre, 26 St Peter's Street, Bedford MK40 2NN

Leandro Koch, Paloma Schachmann 2023 (107 minutes)
Spanish, Yiddish, Ukrainian, Romanian, English, and German with English subtitles

Winner of best First Feature at the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival. A Jewish camera operator invents a film project about klezmer music to pursue a clarinetist love interest. They journey through Eastern Europe, seeking melodies and romance.
An inventive delight from filmmakers and real-life romantic partners Leandro Koch and Paloma Schachmann, the unconventional music film/road movie The Klezmer Project eludes normal classification, providing a pleasing experience beginning to end. Beginning as a fictionalized version of its directors' own relationship, the film follows Buenos Aires wedding documentarian Leandro as he meets klezmer band clarinetist Paloma while on a job. The two decide to collaborate on a documentary about the Ashkenazi genre of instrumental music they both love. Soon, the film we're watching begins to incorporate more elements, including a Yiddish-language supernatural tale and a metacinematic road journey. The grandchildren of Jewish immigrants who fled Europe during World War II, the filmmakers have made a brilliant, multilayered film.