The Japanese composer and pianist Midori Hirano presents a new live soundtrack for the overlooked arthouse fairy-tale film The Juniper Tree in her pre-release concert. A dark fairy tale set in the harsh landscape of medieval Iceland, the film is a long-overlooked gem of European arthouse cinema and features Björk in her acclaimed acting debut.
The film also marks the first screen appearance of a young Björk. Combining electronic textures, piano compositions, and finely balanced sonic spaces, Hirano reimagines the film as a contemporary sound experience, creating a sensitive dialogue with the poetic imagery of US filmmaker Nietzchka Keene.
The Juniper Tree established the breakthrough of the director, professor, and Fulbright scholar, who died prematurely. Shot in Iceland, the stark black-and-white film weaves together mythology, witchcraft, and female experience in a powerful, atmospheric reflection on misogyny and patriarchal violence.
The film concert celebrates its German premiere shortly before the soundtrack’s release on VIERNULVIER Records. The introduction will be given by Wouter Vanhaelemeesch, initiator of the Videodroom series and music programmer at Kunstencentrum VIERNULVIER in Ghent.
“The film shows many raw aspects of human nature, such as madness, silence, loss, love, seduction, friendship, deception, self-preservation and innocence, but they are all expressed in a fantastically fragile way. The exciting challenge for me is to incorporate that fragility in the music while keeping its strength”. – Midori Hirano
