Glasgow Cathedral Festival: Metropolis

Experience the visionary brilliance of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) like never before in the vast, gothic surroundings of Glasgow Cathedral. Unfolding in a fever-dream of Art Deco cityscapes, mad scientists and futuristic robot creations, this sci-fi epic is a genre-defining work of cinematic expressionism—visually stunning, emotionally charged and terrifyingly prophetic in its prediction of 21st-century class divides.

Taking a year to shoot and involving 37,000 extras, the original version of the film was harshly redacted only 10 weeks after its premiere, by the ultra-nationalistic German authorities. Lang’s true version was then considered lost, until an Argentinian film archive’s miraculous discovery in 1988 began a twenty-year process which ultimately restored vast swathes of the missing footage. 

For our exclusive GCF screenings, this legendary 2008 restoration of the film is paired with the UK premiere of a live score composed by sisters Linda and Irene Buckley. Performed by ensemble Bangers & Crash and featuring over a dozen percussion instruments, the soundtrack brings exhilarating new dimensions to Lang’s beguiling cinematography—transporting you from the catacombs to the penthouses of his dystopian megacity. As pulsating, rhythmic energy surrounds you, enter the metropolis and submit to the machine.

A film from the holdings of the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung www.murnau-stiftung.de) in Wiesbaden.

These screenings are presented by GCF in association with Cork International Film Festival. Score commissioned by Cork International Film Festival with the support of the Arts Council of Ireland commissioning grant, and premiered at the 66th CIFF in 2021.

Book tickets at www.gcfestival.com/events