From: Michael Chaiken (email suppressed)
Date: Mon Aug 06 2007 - 10:25:39 PDT
Dear All,
I'm sending this on behalf of my friends in the Valerie Project who
are looking to book a fall/winter US tour of their acclaimed live
music presentation of Jaromil Jires' VALERIE AND HER WEEK OF WONDERS (1970).
Michael Chaiken
Maysles Films
343 Lenox Ave
NY NY 10037
212.582.6050
email suppressed
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THE VALERIE PROJECT
www.valerieproject.org
contact: email suppressed
The Valerie Project is a group of nine musicians from Philadelphia
(featuring members of the bands Espers, Fern Knight and Fursaxa) who
have composed a new score to Jaromil Jires' 1970 Czech New Wave film
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders. The Valerie Project's score has been
recorded, and will be released on cd/lp through Drag City Records in
November. A very limited number of US screenings/performances are
currently being booked to coincide with the release.
The band performs the score to their own 35mm print of the film.
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders
dir. Jaromil Jires, 1970, Czechoslovakia, 35mm, 77 mins, color, sound
w/ accompaniment
Based on a surrealist novel by Vitezslav Nezval, this remarkable
celluloid poem has been described as "a Jodorowsky/Bergman
co-production of a Grimm's fairytale." In a 19th century Central
European village, a 13-year-old girl crosses the threshold into
womanhood, her life entering a baroque, gothic world of vampires,
witchcraft, mysticism and lacivious priests. Rich in imagination,
color, and sensual textures, VALERIE remains a Czech cult classic, "A
delicate, exquisite jewel . . . one of the most charming romantic
tales on a girl coming of age ever made."— VARIETY.
"Vítězslav Nezval could hardly have imagined the future incarnations of
his 1945 book, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders. Inspired by its
folkloric guise and transgressive symbolism, fellow Czech Jaromil
Jires condensed Nezval's novella into a staggering celluloid
fantasy, one which mirrored the aesthetic of the 60s counter-culture that
birthed it. Thirty-eight years after its initial run, nine Philadelphia musicians,
bound by a love of the film and its original score, worked to compose an alternate soundtrack. The result is a celebration of the impact Valerie and Her
Week of Wonders has had on the New Folk/Rock Movement and the culture
which today sustains it." - Greg Weeks, Valerie Project/Espers
Past performances include:
Sept 06 - International House, Philadelphia, PA. (400 capacity- sold out)
March 07 - Anthology Film Archives, NY, NY. (200 capacity- 2 shows - sold out)
June 07 - International House, Philadelphia, PA. (400 capacity- sold out)
June 07 - Royal Festival Hall, London, UK. Meltdown Festival (3000
capacity - sold out)
Future performances:
Museum of Modern Art, NYC. Oct. 30th, 2007
Nov 2007 US/Europe Tour TBA
Press kit, promo cd and tech rider available upon request.
booking contact: email suppressed
The fall/winter tour will have promotional support from Drag City
Records and Arthur Magazine.
Valerie Project website, with more information on the full scope of the project:
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.