100 years ago at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month, the hostilities between more than a dozen nations ceased and World War I came to an end. To mark this day, we share composer Aleksandra Vrebalov, filmmaker Bill Morrison and Kronos Quartet’s collaboration “Beyond Zero: 1914-1918,” which Morrison and Icarus Films have graciously made available to stream for free on November 11.
Watch Film : Available 11 November 2018In 2014, “Beyond Zero,” a work for quartet with film, was commissioned to mark the 100 year anniversary of the beginning of World War I. “Unlike official histories, that have often romanticized and glorified the war,” writes Vrebalov, “artists have typically been the keepers of sanity, showing its brutality, destruction, and ugliness.”
Learn more about the projectAbout the film: Originally commissioned by the Kronos Quartet in 2014 Beyond Zero is a film by Bill Morrison with original music written for the quartet by Aleksandra Vrebalov. The film comprises newly digitised rare 35mm nitrate film shot during the Great War never been seen by modern audiences. For the music, Vrebalov was inspired by anti-war writings, music, and art created during and immediately after World War I, including, for example, the writings of Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, the music of Satie and Debussy, and the Dada movement: <em><strong>”The piece draws from their disillusionment about heroism and patriotism, summed up in Owen’s line from Dulce et Decorum, that to die for one’s country is the old lie.”</strong></em>
“Beyond Zero: 1914–1918” was supported in part by an award to the Kronos Performing Arts Association from the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional funding from The MAP Fund, which is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. It was commissioned by Cal Performances, University of California, Berkeley; National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial and the Harriman-Jewell Series in Kansas City, Missouri; and Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, in Hanover, New Hampshire.
Aleksandra Vrebalov Profile & WorksTags: Aleksandra Vrebalov, Armistice Day, Beyond Zero, Bill Morrison, Film, Kronos Quartet